


Adventures in Babysitting

by beforethedawn, ConstructFairytales, Destinyawakened



Series: Buddhist and the Bear [3]
Category: Charlie Countryman (2013), Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Extended Universe - Fandom, The Big C (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Anal, Babysitting, BearDogs, Dog - Freeform, Dogs, Drinking, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Hugging, Kissing, M/M, Shopping for Baby, Smut, Taking care of a baby, The Mob, Will and Lee are twins, Wine, booze, charlie countryman au, families, hannigram AU, hannigram tagged since it's technically a hannigram au rarepair, part of a series, talk about family, the big c au, trying to parent, winodogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-31
Updated: 2017-01-31
Packaged: 2018-09-21 04:50:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9532190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beforethedawn/pseuds/beforethedawn, https://archiveofourown.org/users/ConstructFairytales/pseuds/ConstructFairytales, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Destinyawakened/pseuds/Destinyawakened
Summary: Nigel and Lee are left with an eight month old baby for a few days and forced to try and care for it. In the process they realize this might not be the sort of life for them.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Not Beta'd and only a light editing was given due to time constraints. If you find anything horrible please let us know!

They didn't agree on everything, but Lee often knew when to argue and when to let it go. Letting it go with Nigel was often the best idea. Then when they did agree, it was the most blissful thing in the world. Lee cherished those moments. One of the things they never talked about was children. And that was okay, Lee never wanted any, and it was easier to assume Nigel didn't either.

Nigel had never considered children with Lee. They didn’t have the right plumbing for Lee to be knocked up by accident, and aside from having a child by surprise, Nigel had never considered fatherhood.

Nigel shuffled out into the kitchen, bare-chested and only marginally awake, with silver, shaggy hair in his eyes. He grunted, and started fumbling around to make coffee, swearing under his breath at the sun as it shone through the window, and in his face.

Lee was attempting to keep a baby quiet in the dining room. He'd gone for a jog earlier, and on returning, there was a car seat with a baby in it sitting out in the cold just outside their building. Nigel's men said they hadn't seen anything, so Lee, being compassionate,  took the baby inside and was now trying to get it something to eat, but all they had were things babies did not eat.

Or so Lee assumed.

Nigel made coffee, and sauntered into the dining room as he drank, then cracked his neck to each side with a loud popping sound, and sat down, legs splayed. “You get up too early,” Nigel muttered, eyes mostly closed.

“Gotta get the run in so I can spend time with you, my bear,” Lee said, holding the baby in his arms, who was docile for now, but cooed and gurgled.

Nigel grunted into his coffee and looked up at his cheerful husband, then at the baby, and went back to his coffee before he did a slow double-take, and looked at Lee again, staring. “Excuse me, Lee,” Nigel rumbled, his voice deeper and rougher than usual, “did you … just pick up a fucking baby while you were out!?” he exclaimed.

“I found ‘im on the ground in a car seat and it was freezin’ out,” Lee explained, as if that much should be  very  obvious. “Can’t let him freeze to death. I haven’t called the police yet, I know how much you don’t like them around here…”

“Well, no, I fucking don’t but … what the fuck are we going to do with a fucking baby, Lee?” Nigel muttered and stood, moving closer to Lee to look at the little pink-faced thing. “Why the hell would anyone leave a fucking baby here of all places?” Nigel frowned at the baby, who was chewing on the shoulder of Lee’s running shirt, and slobbered into the fabric.

“I don’t know. I couldn’t leave him there, and your guards hadn’t seen anything,” Lee said, bouncing the baby a little, who babbling, but nothing coherent. “Figure we get him changed and fed and I’ll take him down to the station.”

Nigel sighed, and crouched to look the baby in the eye with a frown. The baby stared back at Nigel  for a moment, then began to bawl, loudly and gustily, pulling on Lee’s shirt. “Well what are we going to feed him? Babies want milk, we don’t have the right tits for that, Lee.”

“I know that! I’ll take him to the store, and get him some things, I’m sure someone there can help me out,” Lee shrugged, petting down the baby’s head softly, though his movements were timid at best.

The baby just kicked Lee’s chest with his feet, and kept crying as Nigel stared at it, frozen for a second. “Isn’t there something  like the pound for babies?” he asked, over the screaming, and pushed his hair out of his eyes, then got one of Beauty’s squeaky toys and squeaked it at the baby, at arm’s length.

“That’s why I’m taking him to the station, but I can’t just give over a screaming, hungry, wet baby… that’s just bad karma,” Lee said, loudly, holding the baby out and away from him.

“Bad karma…” Nigel muttered, itching for a cigarette and a drink right now. He squeaked the toy again, and the baby looked at it, quieting for just a moment as he waved his hand at it. “Fine, I’ll get dressed, we’ll take … him … her … it to the store,” Nigel said, and gave the baby the squeaky toy.

“Him, I think? I haven’t checked!” Lee called after Nigel, not having asked him to come with, but Lee didn’t drive either, so unless he took a cab… The toy squeaked again and Lee jumped, looking down at the baby and the toy, which made Beauty come up and lick the baby’s feet.

The baby had large, large, blue eyes, and just a patch of curly dark hair on his head, with two tiny teeth that were visible just under his lower lip. “There we go, Christ, who knew something so tiny could be so fucking loud?” Nigel sighed, and petted Beauty before he hurried off to put something on. “Where was he again? Just … on the sidewalk? No note?”

“I didn’t see a note,” Lee said, and motioned to the car seat. “He was in that, only a thin blanket around him.” 

Nigel stalked back into the room as he did up a dark shirt with flowers on it, leaving it half undone as he looked at the kid, who was staring at Beauty and wiggling his feet. “Cracked out mothers, they either put the kid in a dumpster, or take it to a hospital. Dropping it outside a place like this? Doesn’t make any fucking sense…”

“Unless they… wanted your help,” Lee offered up, not insinuating anything, just putting the idea out there. “Either way, we’ll take him to the police station.”

“Who the fuck would want my help?” Nigel asked, and made a face at a smell. “He just shit himself, didn’t he?” Nigel sighed, arms crossed over his chest. 

Lee held the baby out and looked at him, the small thing smiling at them, and then his lip pouted out and he started to wail. “I think so. There was one diaper in the car seat with him…”

“One?” Nigel asked, incredulously, and shook his head at the smelly baby, who looked much happier after unloading. “Great. That’s like one fucking bullet to work with. Have you ever done … this?” Nigel asked as he gestured to the baby’s sagging diaper. It smelled like a hot sewer.

“No.” Lee went to the bathroom and got a dirty towel and laid down and then the baby. He took the clean diaper, only then realizing they needed wipes or something. “Uh… I mean I’ll try but...I need something to wipe it off of him?”

Nigel stormed into the kitchen and came back with a roll of paper towel, an apron, and a pair of dishwashing gloves. “Let’s do this on the balcony, I don’t want shit sprayed all over the inside of our place,” Nigel said, and headed to the balcony to open the door, in a foul mood now that the smell started to get stronger.

Lee gathered the baby up and went out to the zen themed balcony, but said nothing about tainting his own peaceful space. He set the baby down and started to undo the snaps of the pajamas he was in, only to find out he had shit up the back and all over him. “Oh my fuckin-”

“Jesus fucking Christ-” Nigel muttered, and put the apron on Lee, over his clothes, then jogged inside to get a garbage bag, and came out with it, open. “Just … put everything in here, just everything, the clothes, the diaper, just do it-” he said, trying to hold his breath and talk at the same time. The smell was so bad, Nigel could swear that he could taste it.

Lee stripped the baby down and carefully used the paper towels to wipe him off and then stuffed it all into the bag. He used more to make sure no poop was left and then stuffed down in there too. “Burn it!” The baby kicked and warbled as Lee tried to put the new diaper on, only to realize it was backwards.

“That doesn’t look right,” Nigel muttered as he tied off the bag of shit and cloth as quickly as he would, then tossed it into a corner of the balcony for now. He wasn’t even the one to change the diaper and felt like he needed a fucking hot shower now. “It’s all … bumpy in the front.”

“I know, I know… it’s on wrong.” Lee sighed, and took it off again but the sticky tape didn’t go back on as well this time when he flipped it. He looked up at Nigel incredulously.

“For fuck’s sake ... “ Nigel muttered, and tugged at his own hair out of frustration, then ran back into the condo, and came back with a roll of heavy-duty duct tape. “Here. Tape that motherfucker up,” he sighed, and tore off a long strip, handing it to Lee while the baby tried to kick his diaper off.

Lee blinked at the tape and then used it to tape the diaper on. That worked, for now. “Okay, let’s get to the store so he doesn’t freeze, or starve, or shit like that again.”

“I’ve seen heroin addicts in withdrawal, but I’ve never seen anyone shit like that. Like it came out of a fucking cannon,” Nigel muttered, and held the door open for Lee. “I’ll get a shirt for the kid, just wait.”

“One of yours?” Lee laughed, holding the baby against him to keep him warm, no matter how much he struggled as they walked in.

“Your old man sweater,” Nigel muttered, and gave Lee a look over his shoulder as he headed for their bedroom. He still felt covered in  _ shit _ particles.

“Don’t you dare!” Lee called over wailing baby, who then started to calm once he saw Beauty again.

Nigel came back with an old, blue t-shirt, one from Romania that had been worn so often that it had holes in the chest. “There, just hold him still,” Nigel sighed, and managed to slip the shirt over the baby, then put his chubby arms through the sleeves, and rolled them up as much as he could. “If you spray this with shit, kid, I’ll find you when you’re older, and you’ll get me a new one. Got it?”

Lee wrapped the baby in a blanket after that and put him in the car seat and lifted it up. “Are we set now?”

Beauty put her paws on the table to stand up, so that she could look at the baby, and licked his feet again. At least one of them was enjoying this.    
  
“Yeah,” Nigel said, as he shrugged on his leather jacket, “the sooner we feed and dress him, the sooner we can hand him off with out karma getting pissed at us, or whatever it is karma does,” Nigel said, bitterly.

Lee rolled his eyes, and slid into the elevator, still in his jogging clothes. “Exactly. C’mon.”

Beauty sat in front of the doors, watching them with soft eyes as they stepped onto the elevator. As soon as the doors closed, and the view of the dog was shut away from them, the baby started to wail again.    
  
It was even louder this time in the tiny space, and Nigel rubbed his face with one hand, muttering in Romanian under his breath before he patted the baby’s head, awkwardly, then his back. “Shh, shhh, going to burst my fucking eardrums, kid…”

“Should we bring Beauty?” Lee asked, aware it was hard to go into places with her now that he wasn't sick anymore.

The baby started to pull at Lee’s shirt and smacked his neck and jaw with his hands, and Nigel pried the little fists of fury away from Lee. “If it keeps this little asshole quiet, yes,” Nigel grunted. The elevator hit bottom, and opened, and the security guards looked at the three of them as the baby screamed his displeasure.

Nigel just hit the button for them to go back up again, his ears ringing. “I thought they fucking slept all the time! Don’t you need to sleep?” he grunted at the baby, which just made him cry with a new, previously unimaginable level of gusto, which made the Romanian wince.

Once at the top, Beauty came into view and the baby stopped crying. Lee beckoned Beauty to come, held the door with his foot, and then let go. “See, dog is back.”

Beauty trotted in, happily, and wagged up at the baby, clearly quite in love with the noisy thing. The baby stopped crying immediately, and waved his hand down at her.    
  
“Let’s just strap him to Beauty and be fucking done with it,” Nigel suggested with a sigh and hit the button to take them back downstairs. 

“We just need to keep her close,” Lee commented, giving Beauty a pet with his sneakered foot. “Won’t be for long,” Nigel sighed to himself as he shook hair out of his eyes, then put his hand on Lee’s back, and walked out with him and Beauty as the doors opened, past their security team. Nigel opened the car door for Beauty, then for Lee and the baby, fuming a little. All he wanted out of today was some fucking coffee, and Lee before he had to head out, and this baby dropped on them like a tiny little shit storm out of the blue, making a nice morning impossible.

It was not on Lee’s schedule either, but he was a firm believer in what goes around comes around, so in helping the the baby, they had good points on their side. He got in and set the carrier down beside him, to watch, well aware that maybe it needed to be strapped in, but there was seemingly no way to do that.

They just had to do what they had to do, in this situation. Nigel got in, started the car, and pulled out of the massive parkade, headed down the street. “So, where the fuck is going to have baby shit? Is there a baby store I don’t know about?” Nigel asked, honestly clueless. 

The baby just gurgled over Lee’s shoulder at Beauty, and kicked his feet against Lee’s chest, happily.

“Retail store? Target?” Lee suggested, shrugging slim shoulders. “We’ve passed baby stuff a few times in there.”

“I didn’t notice,” Nigel said, and reached one weathered hand over to rub Lee’s leg as he cranked the wheel to the left, and made the turn toward the huge store Lee had introduced him to. It had cheap booze, that was really all Nigel noticed about it. “So … food, diapers, something for him to wear.”

“Yeah. I mean what else could he need?” Lee was sure there’d be a lot of options, of course.

“I have no fucking idea…” Nigel sighed, and looked at the baby who seemed ready to sleep in the carrier, his big head bobbing slowly before it rested against the side. “I’ve never been around a baby, never had siblings … that I know of…”

“I had a sibling, but not one I knew about,” Lee said with a little smile, watching as the baby finally fell asleep, the car ride must have done it. “Maybe someone at the store can help?”

“Some kind of baby expert?” Nigel asked, seriously, and hopefully. “Do you think they’d want the kid?”

“We’ll get the cops called on us if we try to pawn off a baby,” Lee explained, giving his husband a look. “He’s not so bad when he’s asleep.”

Nigel just sighed, and looked over at the baby as he drove. “Just an idea, and yeah, he’d be great if he slept all the time. I could just give him some whiskey…”

“You’d kill him,” Lee countered. They might not like babies or know what to do with them, but Lee sure as hell wasn’t going to neglect one.

“I’m pretty sure my Mother gave me whiskey,” Nigel said, but his voice tapered off at the end of the sentence, aware that he was not really the most … balanced of people. “Yeah, maybe not, then.”   
  
He parked the car, and shut off the engine, then looked over at Lee holding the kid in his arms now. He was … pretty cute … when he was quiet.

Lee shrugged once more and got out, forgoing the carrier and letting the baby sleep on him instead, as Beauty trotted along beside them on her leash. “Okay, diapers, clothes, milk or something..”

Nigel followed, walking close to Lee as he always did in public, one arm against his back. A woman pushed a cart past them, and smiled widely at Lee, adoring the baby on his shoulder as she passed. Nigel frowned a little, and rested his hand against Lee’s waist, out of reflex. Maybe she was just looking at the baby, maybe she was imagining having a family with Lee, Nigel wasn’t going to take any fucking chances, and felt himself growling a little, mentally, no matter how irrational the thought was. “I don’t even know how fucking old he is,” Nigel admitted.

“I’m sure someone can help, just… relax,” Lee said, going for the carts. The baby could hold his head up, kick, and had a few teeth. That had to amount to something in baby years… months?

“I’m relaxed, I’m relaxed,” Nigel assured Lee as they walked into the store, and he yanked a cart out of it’s corral, sure they’d need it to satisfy Lee’s need for good karma. He nodded at an employee and asked where they kept all the “baby shit”. The older woman pointed to the left as she stared at Nigel, a little speechless.

“Thank you…” Lee said as they walked by, petting the baby’s back with one hand as he stayed asleep, thankfully. They approached the baby aisles, loaded with tons and tons of… shit. Then there were racks and racks of clothes, and another aisle of clothes, tiny shoes...

“Holy … fucking … this is all for babies?” Nigel asked, staring at the rows upon rows of pastel  _ everything _ . He cracked his neck, and went to the wall of diapers to grab a box, then read what was on it. “Shit. It goes by months.”

“And weight,” Lee pointed out, testing the baby in his arms, but he wasn’t a great guess. He started to look around for other parents with babies, maybe someone had one this one’s size he could ask.

Nigel started to look at the babies on the boxes with narrowed eyes, chewing his lower lip as he looked from one to the other, and picked up one that looked like the baby Lee held. A woman walking with a toddler eyed Nigel and walked up beside him. “First time buying diapers?” she asked with a smile.   
  
Nigel rolled his eyes for a second, then looked back at Lee. “Yeah, my husband and I are babysitting. Ran out of them, not sure what the fuck to buy now,” he said. At the word husband, the woman looked over a Lee, a little disappointed, but waved.    
  
“How old is he?” she asked.   
  
“We really don’t know, my sister dropped him off, he had some sort of explosion in his pants, we wrecked a few diapers she left us cleaning him up. I’d text, but she’d just turn around and come back and she needs a day off, you know?”   
  
The woman nodded, and smiled, brilliant pink lipstick showing slightly yellowed teeth, “aww, that’s so sweet of you. Well, I’d say he’s under a year, maybe … seven or eight months? These are good,” she said, and tapped a box. “Stretchy.”

“Will they hold the poop in?” Lee asked, resting his chin over the baby’s head as he slept, thankfully, still in Nigel’s shirt. Lee walked closer to see the box. Seemed right. “Get those. Too big is better than too small.”

Nigel threw a box of them into the cart, and asked the mother who’d come to help, “do they eat food at this age? Just milk?”

“Oh, they can eat food, just little finger food, no seafood or nuts yet. Fruit, little veggies, crackers… they’ll make a mess, but he should be able to handle it,” she said, and picked up her toddler. “Good luck.”

“Thank you,” Lee called after her, but not all that interested. He gave Nigel a look when she was gone. “So he’s like… five or six months?” Lee walked to the food aisle and looked at the jars of food, the cans of diced fruits and veggies, even the small wheel shaped crackers. 

Nigel picked up a jar and tossed it in the cart, then looked at another one. “How the fuck are we supposed to know what he’s going to eat? Not everyone likes-” he read a jar, “strained chicken and peas.” Nigel held the jar up so that the baby could look at it now that he had opened his eyes when Lee spoke. He hummed, but had no other reaction besides a little fart.

Lee laughed at the response. “Just pick a few, maybe mostly fruits and veggies, and I’ll look at the formula,” Lee suggested, turning around in the aisle to look at the rows and rows of baby milk.

Nigel picked up a jar of applesauce, and a few more, and tossed them in the cart, then opened a jar, and sniffed it before he dipped his finger in and tasted it. “Hm…”

“It’s pureed foods, that’s all,” Lee said, looking at it, though he wasn’t too sure about some of the meat combinations. He picked out a can of sensitive stomachs formula. “Says here that babies need to drink formula as the main source of food until they are one.”

“So … more milk than this stuff?” Nigel asked, and let the baby look at the open jar of food. The little boy cooed and plunged his hand into the jar, then stuck it in his mouth, which made Nigel chuckle, and stick his finger in the jar, then offered it to the baby, who grabbed at it and chewed on his finger as he ate the apples and berries off it it. “Hungry…”

“Yeah, probably why he’s loud. Grab a bunch of all of it for his age range and a spoon. I’ll get a bottle.” Lee picked out a sippy cup instead, the bottles were too confusing, and then a pack of bottled water to mix it in. He then went to find clothes for the baby, opting for bigger, and stuffed a long pajamas and shirts with pants in the cart.

Nigel was holding Beauty’s leash, and talking to a store employee.   
  
“Sir, we can’t let you bring your dog into the store-” the employee said, eying Beauty.   
  
“She’s a fucking assistance dog. I have … problems,” Nigel said, challengingly, and shifted his jaw.    
  
“Does … um … does she have a … card, or a licence?” the employee asked, meekly, adjusting his glasses.   
  
Nigel stepped closer, his eyes as dark as two pits of tar, a wicked smile on his lips. “My fucking psychiatrist says she’s good at keeping me from going into these fucking black-out  _ rages _ I get in public…” he whispered, in a tense voice, then pet Beauty, who leaned against him. “See? It’s working just fucking great. I’m not punching you in the face, am I?”   
  
The employee looked at Beauty, then Nigel, then back to Beauty. “Maybe … next time just … bring a vest for her-” he said, before walking away quickly.

Nigel grinned over at Lee, and stretched his shoulders, which showed off his hairy expanse of chest through his open shirt. “What’d you get, Baby?”

“Just some things for him to wear,” Lee said, watching the employee walk off. “You could have just used my card. It’s still valid.”

“Well …  you were getting clothes,” Nigel said with a shrug, and leaned over to kiss the corner of Lee’s square jaw, then bumped their noses together. “Are we done? Anything else? Lube?”

Lee laughed out loud, and wrapped one arm around Nigel’s neck, holding the baby in the other. “Are we out already?”

“Almost,” Nigel said, smiling a little as he steered the cart toward the wine and lube, two things they bought a lot of here, much more familiar than baby supplies. “Can’t go without that…” Nigel purred, against Lee’s ear, walking close beside him, one hand against the back of Lee’s oatmeal-coloured old man sweater.

“No we can’t.” They picked up lube down the sexual care aisle, and then swung by the wine aisle, where Lee scoffed a little at the selection.

“Look, this one has a bluebird on the label,” Nigel said as he picked up a bottle, and showed it to the baby, who patted it, and cooed, then tried to put his mouth against the bottom of it.

Lee reached into the cart and opened the crackers and held a few for the baby. “What kind of wine is it though?”

“Shiraz,” Nigel said, reading the label on the bottle, then reached in the bag to have a cracker, absent mindedly, then looked at the bag. “What the fuck are these? They’re good…”

“They’re goldfish cheese crackers,” Lee said, holding the bag up. “Get the wine, we’ll need something for our headaches later that isn’t my good stuff.”

Nigel put the wine in the cart, and stole another cracker, then gave one to the baby, who hummed around it and chewed as much as he could, much happier with a little food, even. Nigel had to admit, he felt like an asshole now, even more than he usually did. He knew what a hungry kid’s temper was like. “Want me to take him?” he asked, quietly, almost embarrassed.

Raising his brows, Lee handed the baby over carefully, who just looked at Nigel with his big blue eyes. “He’s quiet at least.”

Nigel swore he’d seen those eyes before, somewhere. He held the baby awkwardly, against his shoulder, and patted his back, a little. “As long as he can see the damn dog, sure,” Nigel said, looking at Beauty where she looked at the baby, adoringly. “Let’s go home.”

“Not the station?” Lee asked, pushing the cart to the lanes, where he unloaded everything. “Do you think we should get a real car seat for him? A bed? Crib?” Lee was not getting attached, but he worried that whoever did get the baby wouldn’t have anything for him.

“We’re not keeping him, we’re giving him to the cops. They’ll get him … whatever,” Nigel said, and suddenly had a thousand-yard stare in his eyes, and licked his lips as his pace slowed. “Cops in America, what do they do with kids, anyway?”

“Social services, usually. Foster families,” Lee explained as the cashier rang them up and he slid his card into the machine.

Nigel nodded, staying silent as the wheels in dark corners of his mind began to turn. “Yeah…” he murmured, and picked up one of the bags, as much as he could manage with Beauty’s leash and the baby in his arm.

Lee got the rest, following them out, and to the car once more. “We can take him home if that makes you feel better. Maybe the parents will come back?”

Nigel sighed through his nose, and carried the kid out, lost in thought and quiet until they got into the car, and he handed the baby to Lee once they had all piled in. “There are a lot of shitty cops out there, and a shitty system. I don’t want to fucking keep him, but … there’s got to be something better out there, right? Maybe … does your brother want a kid?” Nigel asked, seriously, and started the car.

Lee laughed as he strapped the baby into the carrier once more and looked at Nigel. “Will with a baby and dogs? All by himself?”

“Women do it all the fucking time,” Nigel said as he backed out of their spot and started to drive home.

Will never said anything, but Lee could tell his twin brother was stressing about things, struggling. “I could ask him, but I don’t know, does he seem like the type to want a baby?”

“He can handle a bunch of dogs, I’m sure he’s better than the fucking cops or some social worker,” Nigel said, with a one-shouldered shrug.

“I’ll ask, but let’s not count on that,” Lee said, and opened one of the bottles of water from the bag and made up one scoop of formula in it and then stuck it inside the new sippy cup for the baby. “I wonder what his name is…”

“Who fucking knows?” Nigel sighed, and flexed his hand around the leather of the wheel. “If we name him, it’s like a dog, you’ll want to keep him…”

“I wasn’t suggesting we name him,” Lee murmured, giving the baby the sippy, which he took, and started to drink from with a little assistance.

Nigel nodded, and turned a corner, slowly, so that the baby and Lee didn’t tip over too much. “Good,” he sighed, and looked at the baby. “I’m shit at naming things, anyway. You named Beauty.”

“Then he’s just… baby for now,” Lee shrugged, eyes skimming the road of their street, coming up to the spot he found the baby in front of their building. He looked, again, for a note, anything… a person…

“Problem is, you’re already Baby,” Nigel said, with a little smile, and reached over to touch Lee’s knee through his jeans, and looked at his gorgeous profile as he drove. Lee really was utterly perfect to Nigel, there was no one else in the fucking world for him.

“Okay. Boy? Little boy?” Lee asked, and smiled at Nigel, watching him with a smile.

“Little boy,” Nigel nodded, and smiled a little at that, unable to stop the upward quirk of his generous lips. “Good enough.”

“Don’t get attached, Nigel,” Lee warned with a small grin, and once they were back in the garage, he picked up Little Boy from the carrier and jostled a bag in one arm, Beauty right behind him.

“I don’t get fucking attached,” Nigel said as he got out of the car, and got the rest of the bags, then kicked his door shut, neatly. 

“You don’t? What am I? A removable sidecar?” Lee asked, brows raised as they waited for the elevator.

Nigel rolled his eyes, and looked at his husband. “You’re the fucking exception,” Nigel said, and nodded at the guards as they neared the elevator. Honestly, getting attached to Lee had been far, far too easy.  _ Being _ attached to Lee was usually easy, until Nigel’s demons started to claw their way out, and remind Nigel that everyone he’d ever loved left him, and Lee would, too … someday. Lee, however, was not as fragile as he might have looked, and Nigel was learning that he wasn’t going to be scared off. 

It was one of the things he loved most about Lee. He was gentle, and funny, and sweet on the surface, but fucking tough under it all. 

They stepped into the elevator with Beauty and Little Boy, and Nigel leaned over and gave Lee’s high cheekbone a kiss as the doors closed.

Lee leaned into the kiss, and then looked at Nigel. “Stop thinking so much.”

“Not thinking a damn thing,” Nigel muttered, with a little smile. “What are you, my fucking mind reader now?” he teased.

“If you aren’t thinkin’ anything, then no, just hearing voices,” Lee teased right back. The doors opened again at the top and he slipped out, carrying the baby and a bag of his new things. “Did we remember wipes?”

“Fuck …” Nigel groaned, and carried the bags to the kitchen, setting them all down. “I don’t fucking remember,” he said, and rifled through them. “We can just wipe him with whatever, toilet paper, right?”

“I don’t know. Wipes are better? Wetter?” Lee laughed, and set the baby down on the rug with Beauty, who licked him all over.

The baby cooed at Beauty, and waved his hands and feet, happily, laughing as Beauty tickled him with her tongue and nose. “I’ll go get some if regular shit won’t work,” Nigel promised, and looked over his shoulder at the baby and dog, then tossed one of the outfits to Lee.

Lee took the footie pajamas, regretful now as he looked them over and then at the baby. “It can’t be that hard…” He got on his hands and knees and crawled over to Little Boy, and laid him down to peel off Nigel’s shirt, and then started to put his hands in the pajamas. Great, perfect.

Only now his feet wouldn’t go in the pockets for them. Lee took the arms out and tried the feet first, and that worked a little better. Finally, the baby was dressed and zipped up. “There we go.”

Nigel looked over, and walked closer to them, crouching to look at the little garment. “Holy shit, it actually fits him, good eye,” he nodded, and rubbed Lee’s back. Little Boy looked up at them, and rolled over, starting to crawl across the floor.

“Oh! He moves!” Lee laughed, and scooped the baby up again. “I did not see that coming.”

Little Boy started to cry, frustrated, and turned to look back at the floor, arms and legs still moving like he was trying to crawl.    
  
“Oh shit, we can’t let him just roam around, we have … “ Nigel gestured to their living room, “sharp edges on shit, he’ll put his fucking eye out and no one will fucking want him.”

“I didn’t even think about that,” Lee sighed, buzzing the baby’s belly once to keep him from crying. “Maybe a nap? A real nap?”

“Yeah, he’s probably tired,” Nigel said, as the baby seemed to think about the sensation, and stopped crying, then looked at Lee, sort of hiccuping on his sob. “Do it again, he likes that.”

Lee did it again, buzzing his mouth on his belly, longer this time, getting him to giggle loudly. Nigel smirked a little, and then realized his phone was buzzing on the counter. “Good, just keep that up all fucking day,” he said, before answering.

“Me?” Lee laughed, but kept at it as Nigel answered his phone. Lee was now making baby noises at the Little Boy, who was rubbing Lee’s face with gooey hands.

Nigel answered, and his face went blank for a second before he scowled. “Who the fuck is this?” he demanded, and then rolled his eyes at the answer. “Charlie!? Why the ever-loving fuck are you calling my personal phone, Charlie, and how the fuck did you get my fucking number!?” Nigel growled, pacing, then stopped. “Oh … did she?”   
  
Nigel was quiet a long moment, then shook his head and put Charlie on speakerphone so that Lee could hear him.   
  
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry, I know this seems crazy, but we didn’t know what else to do, and Gabi said he’d be safe with you-” Charlie said, in a hurry, sounding almost manic with anxiety. “Is he there? Is he okay? I couldn’t get to a phone for hours, we left him right at the door with a note…”

“Note?” Lee asked, aghast. “There was no note, just a frozen Popsicle of a baby!” Lee reached over and tickles the little boy again, making him giggle.

Charlie’s voice broke a little to hear the little boy giggle like that. “We left a note, a long note! It must have blown away. His name is Victor, is he okay? He sounds okay …” Charlie said, his voice shaking a little.    
  
“He’s fucking fine. We changed him even though he had a shit explosion in his pants. Why the fuck are you two running?” Nigel demanded as Victor waited for more belly buzzes from Lee.    
  
“It’s a mix up. These guys came into my work, and … it just all went crazy from there. We just need a few days, we were afraid something would happen to him, and Gabi said … Gabi said you could keep him safe, safer than anyone.”   
  
Nigel rolled his eyes at that, and shook his head. “I’m not a fucking babysitter, Charlie.”

“We’re not exactly the most qualified. How long? I don’t know if i can buzz his belly for three days…” Lee sighed, rubbing the baby’s belly, watching him start to doze off.

“God, I … I know. Two days. Okay? Two days, and this will be washed over, and we’ll come and get him and we’ll owe you both, okay? We’ll owe you anything, just keep him safe, and … I hate leaving him. I’m his father, we’re upset about this but it’s for his own good. I owe these guys money, or they think I do … “ Charlie rambled.    
  
Nigel closed his eyes and rubbed his face with one hand, ready to shoot the phone just to shut Charlie’s whining voice off. 

“What's his name?” Lee asked, quieter now. “And we got him food.”

“Victor,” Charlie said, relieved to hear Lee again. “Thank you, good, thank you so much, we will pay you back, for everything. We didn’t know what else to do.”

“Victor then. Okay. So you have two days or we are dropping this kid at the local hospital.” Lee hated to threaten that, but he definitely knew any longer would tear them apart.

“Okay,” Charlie agreed, breathlessly, “okay, that’s all we need. I’m so sorry, thank you,” he sighed.   
  
Nigel hung up, and tossed his phone onto the counter. “Shouldn’t have a fucking family if you can’t fucking protect them,” he grumbled, disgusted.

“I agree,” Lee stated, but smiled over at Nigel and then down at Victor. “He’s asleep. We should have bought that crib.”

“Fuck,” Nigel sighed, and picked up his phone to shoot off a text, “I’ll send one of my guys for it. Anything else?” he grumbled, not thrilled about being saddled with someone else’s problem for two fucking days.

“The wipes!” Lee laughed, and then covered his mouth when Victor stirred a little, but didn’t wake. Beauty laid down next to the baby, and curled around him, protectively.

Nigel sighed again, and added ‘wipes’ to the list, and … earplugs. Two days of a screaming baby,  _ Christ  _ … He nodded, and sent off the text. “Yuri will bring it up when he’s done. I’m pretty sure I’m going to throw Charlie off the balcony when he comes to get the baby,” Nigel added, calmly, looking at the balcony.

“Maybe throw them both,” Lee laughed, mostly kidding, though he knew he might be singing a different tune at the end of the second day.

Nigel walked closer and crouched behind Lee, then wrapped his arms around him, slowly, from behind. “The kid might be better off,” he grumbled. He really thought Gabi had a better head on her shoulders than to do something like this.

Lee smiled and turned his head to look at Nigel. “Yeah? And we keep the baby?” He raised a curious brow at his husband, skeptically.

“No, we’re not keeping the fucking baby,” NIgel said, and rested his face against the side of Lee’s throat. “Just … saying, that’s all.”

"He’s not ours, it doesn’t matter. In two days we’ll not have to worry about him,” Lee said, softly, letting Beauty curl up around the baby to sleep.

Nigel sighed, and watched the baby sleep against Beauty. Victor was cute enough when he was sleeping but that wouldn’t last long. “Does he sit at the table to eat?”

“I don’t know, probably? A high chair?” Lee suggested, but that they didn’t have either. “The least they could have done was leave him with all his things.”

“Or fucking talk to us,” Nigel muttered, and laid on the floor, pulling Lee down with him, in his arms. He was already fucking tired from all this.

Lee rested against Nigel, head to his chest, one leg and arm thrown over his chest and hips. “Clearly she thought you’d say no. She even made Charlie call you…”

“Well I would have fucking said no. She didn’t marry me, why the fuck would I babysit some kid she had with some other fucking guy?” Nigel muttered, while he snuggled Lee. “She’d just show up, and cry, and hope I’d do it to make her stop crying…”

“You’d prefer if it was yours?” Lee asked, canting his head up to look at Nigel. “And would you have if she did cry?”

“Fuck, no,” Nigel said, bluntly, looking at Lee’s vivid eyes when they met his own. “I just think if you’re going to have a baby, don’t go running to your ex to protect it because the guy who knocked you up is too much of a pussy to handle his own fucking problems that’s all,” Nigel said, and shook his head.   
  
“And no, I would have told her to get out. She didn’t give a fuck about what upset me,” he shrugged, whispering to Lee where they lay so that they didn’t wake the baby.

“Love makes you do stupid things sometimes. She must love him,” Lee shrugged, they didn’t seem so bad, just a mixed up in the wrong things. Then again, Lee was married to a mob lord.

Lee may have been married to a mob lord, but Nigel was a mob lord who knew what the fuck he was doing, and wasn’t about to put his husband in the path of danger. “Who fucking knows, and moreover-” Nigel said with a little smile, “I don’t care who she loves.”

It was something of a miracle for Nigel, who had carried a painful flame for Gabi for years after they’d broken up. Lee, however, eclipsed all that. Lee was everything Nigel wanted, and more importantly, everything he needed.

“Doesn’t matter then,” Lee conceded, and leaned up to kiss Nigel’s chin, and then his lips, softly. He held no jealousy over Gabi, and was honestly a little contented in the fact she wanted them to watch her baby.

“You don’t mind?” Nigel asked. Given his sometimes violent paranoia regarding jealousy, he was very careful about subjecting Lee to the terrible, twisting feeling, even if Lee seemed almost immune to it. 

“It’s not yours, so no,” Lee admitted with another kiss to Nigel’s lips.

“No, you’re my only Baby,” Nigel chuckled, and kissed Lee, more deeply.

“Do I get to be the only one to call you Daddy?” Lee crooned against Nigel’s mouth, sliding their tongues together tantalizingly. 

Nigel groaned at that, and sucked at Lee’s tongue slowly as he ran one hand down Lee’s firm, lean body. “Fuck, yes… no one else…”

Lee moaned right back, hitching his leg tighter around Nigel, so their hips brushed together. “Daddy…”

Nigel moaned as he felt his cock go hard at that, and squeezed Lee’s ass with one hand. “How the fuck do you get me hard so fucking fast?” he whispered.

“I know the magic words,” Lee murmured into Nigel’s mouth, biting at his bottom lip and dragged his teeth over it slowly, grinding their hips together.

“Magic everything…” Nigel whispered and rolled over Lee to pin him to the ground as he rolled their hips together slowly.

Lee laughed, lightly, and kissed his bear hard on the mouth for that, giddy every time Nigel did that to him. “What else is magic?”

“Magic lips, magic hands, magic  _ perfect _ ass,” Nigel moaned and used his big hands to pin Lee’s wrists to the floor as he kissed and bit at the side of his throat.

“Perfect for your magic cock?” Lee whispered, licking his bottom lip once, utterly at Nigel’s disposal.

“Is that what you call it, Baby?” Nigel purred back, and nipped at Lee’s adam’s apple, then licked the hollow between his collarbones, Nigel’s tongue hot and thick. 

“It  _ is _ magic.” Lee closed his eyes, and then opened them again, watching Nigel, helpless under him, though he honestly wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Nigel had never been so consumed with lust, and ready to laugh as he was when he was with Lee. It was a blissful combination. Nigel lifted one hand to undo Lee’s jeans, then thought better of it, and pulled him up to his feet, hefted him over his shoulder, and carried him into the next room, one of Lee’s many meditation spots.    


He tossed Lee down on a stack of meditation cushions that Nigel insisted Lee use while he was recovering to keep his bony ass from bruising on the floor, and laid over him again with a hard kiss as he pulled his jeans off of Lee’s hips and ass. 

“Fuck, love when you manhandle me,” Lee grunted, raking his now free hands down Nigel’s back, around his hips to his stomach, undoing his jeans.

“You were made to be picked up and tossed around,” Nigel rumbled, and arched his hips so that Lee could push his jeans off, nothing underneath.

Lee rubbed both hands up Nigel’s hips, to his chest, scratching through the thick hair there. “Daddy likes throwing me around?” he purred.

“Yeah, baby,” Nigel whispered as he kicked his jeans off and started to stroke their cocks together, in one big hand, “Daddy likes tossing you around like a little doll.”

Lee’s hips rolled into Nigel’s fist, making a soft desperate noise. “Please…”

Nigel pumped his fist around them, slowly, watching Lee’s stunning face as he stroked them, cock against cock, then slapped Lee’s ass with the other hand. “Want Daddy to fuck you senseless?”

“Yes-” Lee breathed out, writhing from the slap, he groped up Nigel’s chest and brought him in for another hard, passionate kiss.

Nigel returned the kiss, with fire. Their teeth clashed, tongues lashing, and they stole each other’s breath as Nigel rubbed his fingers against Lee’s asshole, teasing him with it. He needed to get the lube. Lube in every room, from now on, goddamnit.

“Target bag,” Lee murmured, as if reading Nigel’s mind, but honestly he just wanted to get his husband cock inside of him now.

Nigel nodded, and pulled away slowly, his eyes focused with obsessive lust on his husband as he did. “Stay right there,” Nigel smirked, and seconds later, returned with the bottle of lube in hand. “Kid is still out.”

“Let’s hope he stays that way for a bit longer,” Lee chuckled, spread open just where Nigel left him.

“I’m going to take you fast and hard, just in case,” Nigel purred, and smeared lube over his hands, then knelt between Lee’s thighs and started to rock two fingers into his tight ass as he stroked himself, and stared down at the handsome brunet. 

“Good thing I’m fast and easy,” Lee grinned, leaning up to bite Nigel’s lips, and then held fast to him, hands slipping down his shoulders.

“Goddamned right you are,” Nigel moaned, and pulled his fingers out of Lee’s ass, then slapped it hard before he pressed his cock into him, and slammed himself in deep, his hips flush with the pinkened cheeks of Lee’s ass. 

Lee’s face turned the color of his cheeks quickly, his whole body starting to grow heated with wanton lust. “Only for you--”

Nigel swore as he felt Lee squeeze around him, and gripped his husband’s slim hips with both hands, then looked down to watch as he started to hammer into him. “Only for Daddy?” Nigel growled, and slapped one of the tattooed on bear claw marks on Lee’s ass as his chest started to heave.

“Fuck, yes-- only for Daddy,” Lee reiterated, gasping and pawing at Nigel’s chest as his body wound tight at his core, threatening to spill over at the brutal beating his prostate was receiving.

They didn’t have time for long, drawn-out sex, this was desperate and frantic. Nigel clawed his nails down Lee’s thighs, and hauled Lee’s legs over his own shoulders so that his cock pressed even deeper inside him, the head of it swollen wide as it rubbed up against Lee’s prostate with every pass. “Come for Daddy, Baby…”

“Shit-” Lee growled out, all the air in his lungs pushed out like this. Finally, he came, hot and white behind his eyes, and sputtering up his belly, all over his shirt.

Nigel watched as Lee spattered come all over his stomach and shirt, and that was all it took. Nigel’s head hung low and he moaned in filthy Romanian as he started to come, and snarled as the orgasm ripped through his body. He spilled into Lee, hot and in waves as he kept fucking him through it, only stopping when his muscles were shaking hard, and felt ready to give out. “Baby…”

Lee clung, even with weakened muscles, holding every limb around him as they both rode out the waves, and finally, he let go, but kissed Nigel’s panting mouth. “I love you, my bear. My  _ Daddy _ bear.”

Nigel hummed, and kissed Lee for that, sweaty and flushed all over, his cock still buried inside Lee. “Love you too, Baby,” he whispered, happily, and laid over Lee on the giant cushion, kissing him slowly.

Lee cupped Nigel’s face as they kissed, cherishing every piece of him, still not sure how they both got here, with each other, but he wouldn’t complain. If anything, Lee was thankful and humbled.

“We need a shower,” Nigel hummed, and picked Lee up with both arms, easily. His back flexed as he carried his husband into the nearest washroom, and kicked the door most of the way closed.

“A quick one,” Lee whispered, not wanting to wake the peacefully sleeping baby in the other room. Once set down, he undressed the rest of the way, and turned the water on, and got in.

Nigel stepped into the shower, and kissed the back of Lee’s neck under the spray. “You are the best fucking thing that ever happened to me,” he whispered, and rubbed Lee’s smooth chest with both hands, both of them flushed with tingling afterglow.

Lee nudged Nigel’s face with his own, sighing contently as he grabbed the soap and started to clean over Nigel’s chest, stomach, and groin. “And you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. In every way possible.”

Nigel sighed at the pampering, and smiled at Lee, his dark eyes shining. “Really?” he asked softly, and smoothed shampoo through Lee’s short hair, “or are you just being nice?”

“Why would I lie to you?” Lee asked, making sure he got all dirt and come off his husband.

“Not lying, just …” Nigel shrugged, and rinsed Lee’s hair, gently, then kissed his forehead. “Just can’t believe my fucking luck, sometimes. You’re perfect, for me.”

“We’re perfect for each other,” Lee whispered back, and hugged Nigel tightly.

Nigel kissed the top of Lee’s head after the water rinsed the suds out, and then sighed when he heard a cry from the other room. “The kid is awake,” he muttered, still hugging Lee.

“Yup,” Lee said and grabbed a towel, drying himself off quickly, he wrapped it around his hips, and padded out. Beauty was licking the boy all over.

Nigel followed, covered with a towel, and watched Lee. “Maybe he’ll go back to sleep,” Nigel said, with a very thin thread of hope.

Lee picked the baby up and patted his back, and Victor cried into his shoulder, sucking on his skin there. “Hungry I think?”

Nigel nodded, and walked to their bedroom to get a robe for Lee, then brought it back for him so that he wasn’t just in a towel, and helped him put it on. “I can hold the brat if you want to make the food, or … whatever we have to do,” Nigel murmured, not sure how to begin getting food ready for a baby. “Pretty sure he won’t like bacon and eggs.”

“No, we have all those jars though,” Lee said, handing Victor over so that he could go look through the jars. He picked one and the new spoon. “Hold him, since we don’t have a chair. I’ll feed him.”

Nigel nodded, and sat in one of the kitchen chairs with Victor on his lap, arms around the baby, who leaned back against his chest, then reached up to pull a handful of Nigel’s chest hair. “Fucking- No! Oww!” Nigel swore, and held Victor with one arm as he tried to free his hair from the baby’s grip.

Lee came back quickly with a bowl and a spoon, and a cloth to wipe him down with. “Oh no… that’s mine,” Lee said, setting everything down, going to help loosen his grip.

Victor screeched when Lee and Nigel pried his hand out of Nigel’s chest hair, and Nigel rubbed the red spot under the hair he tried to yank out. “What the fuck, kid? Christ…” He held Victor a little farther from him, then just picked him up and hurried to the bedroom. “I have to put a shirt on before he rips out a patch,” Nigel muttered.   
  
Beauty followed, wagging, utterly fixated on the baby.

“I could have taken him…” Lee called after Nigel, canting his head as he watched them leave.

Nigel came back, dressed in jeans and one of Lee’s sweaters that covered his chest up to his neck. No buttons to grab, no places hair could peek through. The sweater was a little tight, but showed off his form, perfectly. “I got him, he’s not heavy. Okay, let’s try this shit again,” Nigel grunted, and sat down with Victor in his arms, facing away from him, on his lap.

Lee gave a swooning look at Nigel in his sweater and then set about getting the food set to give to Victor, spooning a little into his mouth. “I hope you didn’t loosen my sweater…”

Nigel smirked at Lee, meeting his eyes over the baby’s head as Victor hummed around the spoon and ate hungrily. “It’s protecting my chest hair … sorry,  _ your _ chest hair,” Nigel teased with a wink. 

“That’s right it’s mine,” Lee said, and spooned more into the baby’s mouth, scooping some  _ back _ into his mouth that dribbled out.

Victor sounded like he agreed as he ate and waved his fists in the air as Nigel smiled at Lee. “So your sweater is protecting your chest hair, if it gets a little stretched out, at least I don’t have bald patches the sizes of a fucking baby’s fist. Worth it.”

“You could have put on any shirt,” Lee pointed out, wiping Victor’s face, getting the hang of this. “Aw, someone likes sweet potatoes and turkey.”

“He would have ripped the buttons off of all of mine,” Nigel said, and watched Lee figure out just how to get all the food in Victor’s mouth. Victor gurgled after he swallowed, and kicked his feet, happily.

“You have undershirts,” Lee pointed out, and scooped more dribbled food into Victor’s mouth. “This reminds me of when you fed me when I was sick in that German facility…”

Nigel smiled at that, sadly, and watched Lee, his gaze becoming softer at the memory. “Pretty sure this kid weighs more than you did back then,” he sighed. 

Lee laughed, shaking his head, hair much longer now than it had been then. “No. No, I was a little bigger.”

Nigel smiled a little at Lee, and reached out to touch the side of his handsome face for a second. “Not much. I was worried as hell,” he sighed. His worst fear, even worse than Lee walking out on him was Lee getting sick again.

Smiling at Nigel, Lee’s eyes averted back to the baby to get a spoonful in his mouth and then wipe his chin with the cloth. “Good thing I’m in remission now, then, isn’t it?” He was healthy now, but every time he went for a well check to be sure it stayed that way, Lee held his breath. He never told Nigel how much those visits scared him.

“Damn good thing, Baby. I need you right here with me,” Nigel agreed, and leaned over the baby to steal a kiss from Lee’s mouth. Nigel never told Lee how much those visits scared him, either.

Lee hummed, distracted for the moment, until Victor screeched out, and waved his hands, clearly wanting more pulverized food in his mouth. “Okay, okay…” Lee sighed, and scooped another bit for the baby, pushing it into his little pink mouth.

Nigel rolled his eyes and sat back again so Victor could eat. “How long until he falls asleep again? Is the food going to make him sleepy?”

“No idea. Food makes me sleepy sometimes… and it is turkey, so there’s hope,” Lee shrugged, and pushed a little more into the baby’s mouth. “We’ll change him when this is done, and put him with Beauty again and see if that works.”

Victor ate hungrily and waved his limbs around. He was bright-eyed and full of energy, of course, ready to play and crawl around for a few hours of busy time.

“He doesn’t look sleepy, he looks like he just did a line of cocaine,” Nigel noted, hopelessly.

“We didn’t buy anything for him to play with either,” Lee noted, disdain in his tone as he wiped off Victor’s face and set the empty bowl aside. “Want me to change him?”

Nigel looked at Lee, hopefully. “Can you manage by yourself?” he asked, as Victor squirmed in his lap, trying to get down.

“I’ll manage,” Lee replied and reached to take Victor, holding him again, and then went to find the bag of diapers they bought. He set the little boy on the ground once more, and tugged him free of the footed pajamas. Lee undid the diaper on him already, luckily only wet this time. He folded that one up and set it aside, and went to put the other one on when Victor started to pee again, all over him. “Hey!”

Nigel sighed, and ran over with a dish cloth then threw it over the baby. “Did he just piss on you!?” Nigel asked, surprised, and glared at the baby. “What the fuck…”

Lee was laughing though, and managed to get the new diaper on the baby, who was now laughing with him, pretty sure that it was funny now that he had done. “He did, it’s okay…”

Nigel was horrified, and shook his head as he went to get Lee a new towel. “Can that make you fucking sick? Can you catch something from him pissing on you?” Nigel asked, with rough concern in his voice as he dried Lee off with a towel.

“No, he’s just a baby,” Lee said with a little chuckle, but look at Nigel with an endearing smile.

“Okay, okay,” Nigel sighed, and shook his head at the baby while he offered Lee a new shirt.    
  
Victor looked proud of himself, smiling and rolling from side to side in his diaper as Beauty came over to lick his belly, which made him laugh.

Lee stood and put the shirt on once he wiped off the rest of the pee, and then went to find some jeans to wear, still in his towel. “Silly dog.”

Nigel shook his head at Beauty, who was wagging at the baby and ready to play. She brought one her toys over, and squeaked it at Victor, who laughed, loudly. “You’re gonna share a toy?” he asked Beauty, petting her with one hand as she wiggled the toy at the baby, who tried to grab it.

“Awww,” Lee crooned at them, tugging on a pair of sweat pants as he came back into the room.

Nigel looked up at Lee and smirked. “Baby’s doing most of the work here,” he said as his phone buzzed. He looked at it and stood. “Crib is here…”

“Oh good. Now if he’d just go back to sleep,” Lee sighed, hands in his pockets, watching Beauty have as much fun as Victor was tugging on the toy back and forth.

To her credit, Beauty was being very gentle, and wagging her big tail back and forth so quickly that it acted like a fan. “Maybe the crib will help,” Nigel said as he went to the elevator, and spoke to the man who brought it up in Romanian, then hauled the huge box into the living room himself, and tossed the box of wipes to Lee. “I’m going to have to assemble this. Why doesn’t anyone just make a fucking crib that’s ready to sleep in? How hard is that?”

“How would you move it?” Lee asked, looking over at the big box. “Don’t ask me for help, I can’t even put together the stuff from Ikea.”

“I got it,” Nigel assured him as he went to the kitchen and pulled a large knife from a butcher block, slicing the box open in a few strikes. He hauled everything out and started to read the instructions, then tossed them aside and started putting the crib together. 

“Do you need tools? Do we have tools?” Lee asked, getting down to the floor again with the baby, making faces at him.

“Just a screwdriver, it came with the shit,” Nigel said, holding the screwdriver up to show Lee and kept working on it with a scowl.

“Oh, nice,” Lee shrugged, and went back to tickling the little boy, letting Nigel do the manly things.

Nigel managed to get most of the crib together, quickly, and looked back at Lee with a little smile. “You like men who can fix things?” he asked, flirting.

“I like that you can fix things,” Lee said, diplomatically, having watched Nigel as he did.

Nigel chuckled, and righted what he had of the crib before working on the legs.”Good answer,” he chuckled, aware that he had flown off the handle about the kind of men Lee liked in the past.

And Lee knew well enough not to answer the way he might otherwise. Everything was a special sort of tip toe around Nigel, and that was okay. Lee was happy. “I know.”

Nigel knew, very acutely, that he had a problem, and loved Lee more than anything for not letting himself get scared off because of it. He put the screwdriver down, and walked over to Lee to kiss him softly, then nuzzled his face for a second. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, you know that?”

Lee grinned at that, and held Nigel around the waist, rubbing his scruff against Nigel’s cheek. “Oh, I know…” he teased. “Your whole world changed when you met me, admit it.”

“It did,” Nigel said, seriously, “you changed fucking everything. I’m not as much of an asshole now, believe it or not.”

“How were you before?” Lee teased again, smirking as he kissed Nigel three times.

Nigel smirked, and kissed Lee back, adoringly. “A bitter bastard with a chip on his shoulder.”

“Horrible,” Lee laughed, biting Nigel’s bottom lip.

“I was unhappy, not just sometimes like I am now, all the time, constantly … and I drank like a fucking fish, I still drink, but it’s for fun now, not for … escape, you know?”

Nigel touched Lee’s cheek, with a sigh. “I … become a little crazy when I’m in love. You are such a big fucking part of my heart that it scares the shit out of me, sometimes, you know?” Nigel murmured, his voice soft, like he was telling Lee a secret of his.

“Sounds like a Beyoncé song,” Lee said with a smile. “Crazy in Love.” Lee turned his head and kissed Nigel’s palm. “I will never willingly leave you. My heart is conjoined with yours.”

Nigel swallowed hard, not sure if he could ever really explain to Lee what he really meant, but Lee accepted and loved him. It was more than Nigel had ever expected, especially after Gabi left. Her leaving turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to him, it sent him to America, to Lee. “Same here, baby, same,” Nigel whispered, and cupped Lee’s face with both hands, then kissed him.

They were interrupted by a crash behind them.    
  
The baby had crawled over to a potted plant, and managed to bring it crashing down with a tug of his arms, spreading leaves and dirt everywhere. VIctor started to cry, loudly, breaking the moment between the couple.

Lee sighed, gazing at Nigel one more time and then went to scoop the baby up, dusting him off. “That's not for you.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Nigel muttered, and shooed Beauty out of the spilled dirt with a heavy sigh, then scooped as much as he could into the pot. The plant, however was broken in half. Nigel picked it all up and put it on the balcony. “Definitely throwing Charlie off the fucking balcony for this shit …”

They could not take their eyes off of the kid for a fucking second. Two days of this was going to seem like a fucking eternity.

Lee patted Victor’s back, trying to calm him while looking him over to be sure he wasn’t hurt, and thankfully he wasn’t. “We need to gate shit off…”

“How are we going to do that?” Nigel asked, after  shutting the balcony door with a sigh. “This whole place is fucking open. It’s not meant for babies crawling around it.”

“I don’t know!” Lee said, holding the baby in one arm while he got out his phone to search for ideas.

Nigel looked around and went to the dining room table. He flipped it over, slowly, and then pushed the long table they never actually used so that it closed off part of the room. “Here,” he muttered, as he cleaned the closed out portion, getting rid of anything that plugged in or could break, putting it all on the other side of the up-ended table.

“I hope he doesn’t know how to push anything,” Lee said, sighing. “We should have bought baby gates…”

“We need a fucking baby  _ wall _ ,” Nigel sighed, and went to the bedroom to get a few blankets, then tossed them down in the enclosure with some pillows, put Beauty in the space, and then gestured to Lee. “There. Baby pit.”

Lee laughed but set the baby down inside the ring. “Better get some of Beauty’s toys…”

Nigel tossed his own soccer ball in, and a few chew toys, and Victor went right for the ball, crawling toward it to roll all over it. “There. He’s serving a long sentence. He deserves it,” Nigel chuckled, watching the little boy play with the soccer ball as Beauty laid next to him.

“I think Beauty is the one who is going to miss him the most when he’s gone,” Lee pointed out, wrapping an arm around Nigel’s waist, fingers splayed over his hip bone.

“I think that’s pretty true,” Nigel sighed, and leaned against Lee, arm around his back, head over Lee’s head. “We … could get her a puppy …” he suggested, as Beauty licked the baby’s head.

“She might like that. She did like Will’s dogs,” Lee mentioned, encasing Nigel in his arms as he put the other around him now too.

“I’m sure we can find a runt somewhere,” Nigel said, and rubbed Lee’s back as they watched Beauty. “Could keep her happy when the baby’s gone.”

“It might be the only way.” Lee hugged Nigel tightly. “A puppy, huh? Aren’t those worse than babies?”

“Don’t have to change shitty diapers,” Nigel said.

“That’s true. Potty train them though. Beauty’s great, she came with that,” Lee pointed out with a little shrug against his husband.

“She’s a smart girl, she’ll teach the pup…” Nigel said, fondly.

“True.” Lee slid out from under Nigel’s grip and went to get the dustpan and broom to finish cleaning up the dirt left behind.

Nigel let Lee go, and went to the kitchen to get a beer, and poured a glass of wine for Lee. They’d need it. “Up to you, you’re home more than I am.”

Lee swept and then turned his head to Nigel. “Are you telling me  _ I _ have to train the puppy?”

“In so many words. What the fuck do I know about them?” Nigel asked, standing in the kitchen with two drinks.

“You seem to mistake dog washing for puppy nannying,” Lee said, throwing the past of the soil away and set the broom and pan aside.

“Is there a big difference?” Nigel asked, and handed Lee his wine when Lee’s hands were free while Victor chewed on the soccer ball in his pen.

Lee took the glass and sipped, sighing. Nigel knew the sorts of wine he needed after a day like this. “I washed dogs, I didn’t train them.”

Truthfully, Nigel just went for red when Lee was stressed. He always seemed happy with it. “We could get a dog trainer, take it to classes.”

“Beauty will have to be put away separately. I think she’d be upset if someone took her baby away,” Lee laughed, and put himself against Nigel once more, unable to stay away.

“Ask your brother,” Nigel said, after a moment. “He’s the crazy dog man. He’d know what to get, how to train it,” Nigel said, thoughtfully. “Maybe he has a spare, who fucking knows?” Nigel murmured.

“Ask him if he has a spare puppy lying around?” Lee laughed, shaking his head. “I’ll ask.” He set his wine down on a side table, and tugged out his phone, sending Will a message.

Victor, in the meantime, screeched happily and babbled as he tugged on a toy that Beauty held in her mouth, then crawled over to look at Lee, and whimpered at him.

“What do you want now?” Nigel asked, with a heavy sigh, and walked to the baby pit. Victor looked up at him and started to cry.

Will texted back that he would look around for them, and then Lee put his phone away. It’d only been  less than a day, the sun was barely going down. “I don’t know… is he hungry? Wet?”

“He just pissed all over you how can he be wet?” Nigel grumbled, and picked the baby up, holding it at arm’s length.

Victor stopped crying, and sniffled, looking at Nigel.

“Maybe he just wants attention,” Lee asked, shrugging slim shoulders as he picked up his wine again, taking a longer sip. This was going to be a long weekend.

“Come on, you have a fucking ball and a dog and a … pit-” Nigel muttered and put Victor down again. Victor immediately started screaming.

“So we have to hold him all the time now?”

Lee reached over and scooped Victor up with one arm, and held him to his hip, wine still in the other hand. “May have to do just for now. Get him tired and then feed him, put him to bed.”

Beauty jumped out of the enclosure to.follow Lee and the baby as Nigel downed the rest of his beer and folded his arms over his chest. “How the fuck do you make a baby tired?”

“I think they naturally just get tired? A walk maybe? Fresh air…” Lee was guessing, he didn’t know either.

“Whatever the fuck works. Maybe we should give him a fucking baby, then he’ll be tired,” Nigel said and grabbed Lee’s jacket for him.

Lee laughed, and made up a sipper of the formula for Victor and then slid on his jacket one arm at a time, and held the baby so he could drink his cup. “Baby babysitting baby?”

“It’s that or slip him a fucking Valium,” Nigel sighed as he got his gun and leather coat, then Beauty’s leash.

Lee laughed, hoping his husband was kidding, and held the little boy tighter as he grabbed his blanket and snuggled him in, letting him be held, eating, and cuddly warm.

Nigel looked over at Lee, and paused at the sight of him holding the baby, a smile lingering on his face. He pulled out his phone and snapped a picture, then hid his phone away in his pocket again. That was Lee … he was warm, and giving, and kind, even when he didn’t have to be.  “Let’s get going before it cools off outside,” Nigel said, as Beauty hopped from foot to foot, happy to go out with the baby again.

“I think she needs a potty break too,” Lee said and got into the elevator, content to hold Victor for now while he didn’t wriggle, he just drank, and gurgled.

“What, the baby?” Nigel asked, with a look on his face that approached horror. That thing was a shit factory…

“Beauty,” Lee gestured to their dog. “ _ She _ .”

The elevator descended while Nigel rubbed his face with one palm and laughed at himself, softly. “Fuck, I need something less than cocaine but more than coffee…”

“Alcoholic coffee?” Lee chuckled and looked over at Nigel, nuding his foot with his own.

“Fuck, yes. Does  _ Starbucks _ make that?” Nigel teased, well aware that Lee loved his Starbucks, and nudged him back.

Lee loved anywhere that would serve wine with their coffee, and their local one down the street just happened to. “I… don’t know. Wine and coffee?”

“Anything at this point,” Nigel said, and stepped out of the elevator with Lee. He gave a few instructions to the enormous armed guards at the bottom of their elevator, in Romanian, which made Victor eyes widen a little. He cooed at the sound of the language, waving his hands.

“He knows his mother’s language,” Lee pointed out, with a smile down at Victor. “Maybe we’ve talking to you wrong…”

Nigel and Lee headed out, onto the street with Beauty, and Nigel looked at the little boy over Lee’s slim shoulder, and spoke a little more in Romanian, which Victor responded to with a big smile, and a happy screech. “His mother talks to him like this, must be it…”

Lee held the empty sippy in his free hand, the other arm holding Victor up to see Nigel as they walked. “He understands it better. No wonder he’s frustrated.”

“He’s a baby, he doesn’t understand anything,” Nigel said, but … had to admit he wasn’t sure now. He said the same thing to Victor, in Romanian, and Victor just looked at him adoringly as he chewed his own fist, then reached his arms out to go to Nigel.

“He definitely likes you now,” Lee laughed and stopped to hand the wiggly one to Nigel with his blanket.

Nigel took the baby, frowning at him, but kept talking to him in Romanian as Victor’s blue eyes lit up in recognition of the familiar cadence of the language. “I’m telling him dirty jokes, he has no idea …” Nigel said to Lee, with a little smile. 

Lee burst into laughter. “You would. He just knows it’s comforting, I bet.” Lee opened the door to the Starbucks and held it for Nigel and the baby, and tied Beauty up to the tree and gave her a treat.

Nigel carried Victor in, with a long yawn that he stifled when Victor put his hand in Nigel’s mouth. “Kid…” he coughed, pulling back from the curious little hand. “No, there are fucking teeth in there.”

Lee followed in, smiling at them, and took a picture of them for himself. They’d never do this seriously, they couldn’t. They  _ wouldn’t _ . Lee put his phone away, and then ordered a two coffees and mulled wine to share with Nigel.

Nigel kept chatting in Romanian with Victor as he waited for Lee, and kept a close eye on just how much the young, male barista smiled at Lee when he took their order. Nigel found a table with two overstuffed chairs, and sat in one, heavily, able to watch Beauty from here. 

They looked like some kind of a family. Nigel was sure he’d never have one, but honestly, being given a baby to care for like this … he couldn’t wait to get back to their old lives. Just him and Lee, and the dog. That was all he really needed. “Thanks, Baby.”

Lee set the two coffees down and then flopped into the chair, sighing. “That’s mulled wine, so it’s hot wine and spices.”

“Thanks, Baby,” Nigel said and managed to lean forward with Victor in one arm  as he took his wine and sipped it. It was a little watered down for his taste, but good. He’d take it, right now. “Did you ever picture us with a kid?” Nigel asked, bluntly.

“No,” Lee answered quickly, and shook his head. He stole a taste of the wine and hummed, not bad. “I don’t think we’re meant to do this  _ this _ full time.”

“You never wanted kids …” Nigel hesitated, aware that even imagining Lee imagining other people could set him off, but he wanted to know, “with  _ anyone _ ?”

“I had cancer for twelve years. Kids were the last thing on my mind, and now that I have a life, and a wonderful marriage, I just want to enjoy that… without a little thing crawling all over me for eighteen years.”

“Kids annoyed the fuck out of me, even when I was a kid,” Nigel explained, and sipped his wine again, then pulled the cup away from Victor’s grasping hands. “Jesus Christ …” he sighed, and put the cup aside. “Just fucking relentless, aren’t you?” he sighed, and repositioned Victor over his shoulder. Victor started to cry, and Nigel repeated himself in Romanian, which turned a few heads near them.

Lee moved their cups away so Victor didn’t kick or push them over. Lee then reached over and patted Victor’s back. “It’s okay.”

A couple guys looked over at the sound of Romanian, and left when they saw Nigel. He sighed, and watched them. “That’s why I don’t speak it in public… if the wrong person overhears, well … there aren’t too many people speaking it here.” He rocked Victor a little, more alert now, dar eyes scanning the windows behind Lee.

“Need me to take him?” Lee asked quietly, reaching for Victor in case Nigel needed to make a call.

Nigel handed the baby over, and Victor fussed a little, but snuggled against Lee’s chest as Nigel pulled out his phone and sent a message. “Let’s finish our drinks, Baby,” he said, perfectly calm, but with a ready awareness in his eyes. “A car’s coming, we’ll take him for a walk somewhere else, okay?”

The two that left the shop were Italians, there was some bad blood there, to say it lightly … and Nigel wasn’t about to risk anything with Lee here.

Nodding, Lee sipped on his coffee while Victor played with the ring on his finger. “Sure, my bear.”

A sleek, black car pulled up a moment later, and Nigel stood to escort his husband to it, one hand on the gun under his jacket as he did. Lee grabbed his coffee, not leaving that, and walked out with Nigel and slid into the back with Victor in his lap. He really hoped Gabi knew how much Nigel was doing for her.

Nigel got in, after Lee, and the car sped off.    
  
Nigel rested his hand against the back of Lee’s neck as he talked with the driver and large, armed guard in the passenger seat in brusque Romanian, and he thought something over for a moment, then gave an order, to which the other two men nodded.    
  
“We’ll take Victor to the zoo? That should distract him,” Nigel said, then swore and hit the back of the seat, giving the order to go back, immediately. The car made a dramatic u-turn and sped back to the cafe. 

“The sun is setting, I don’t think the zoo is going to be open much longer…” Lee said, quietly, as Victor chewed on his fingers and kicked.

Nigel jumped out of the car as it neared the cafe, and ran out to the tree near the cafe, and untied Beauty, then carried her to the car, swearing at himself under his breath. The second he was in, he gave the order to drive. “Fuck … we forgot the fucking dog.“

“She’s okay,” Lee said, and patted Beauty to come sit with him and the baby, showing her he was okay.

Beauty licked Nigel’s chin, then went to Lee and licked his face, all over, wagging with frantic happiness that they’d come back. 

Nigel spoke to the driver, again, petting the dog. He felt like a piece of shit for forgetting her, but they had the baby, and … fuck. “Sorry, girl, sorry,” he muttered, as they headed over a bridge, toward a nice park.

“We won’t do that again,” Lee promised Beauty, just as much to blame as Nigel, honestly. He had forgotten, and was used to Beauty being right with them.

“No, we won’t, girl,” Nigel sighed, and looked down at a text on his phone. He read it, quietly, and relayed something in Romanian to his men, then smiled at Lee. “Problem’s been taken care of,” he assured his husband, casually.

“Good, I was… worried,” Lee said, quietly. He mostly wasn’t, as he never involved himself long in Nigel’s business, as it was easier to not know.

“You never worry,” Nigel said, with a tone of surprise in his voice as he wrapped one arm around Lee. Beauty laid in their laps, and sighed, heavily, still wagging.

“I worried when you fought that bear,” Lee pointed out, as Victor reached and grabbed Beauty’s fur and Lee undid his fist to let go slowly. “No, nice…”

Nigel laughed at the memory, and leaned closer to kiss Lee’s cheek when the car slowed to a stop beside a beautiful park. “Yeah, okay, you worried then. You’re right,” Nigel agreed, and opened the door, then took Beauty’s leash as she climbed out.

Lee carefully got out with the baby, and stepped onto the curb, and then wrapped Victor in his blanket a little more as a wind picked up. “I worry more than I let show you, because I know you’ll be fine.”

Nigel closed the door and told the men he’d text when they were needed. He joined Lee, hand against his back as they walked through the well-kept oasis in the middle of the city. “What, you mean work and shit?”

“Yes,” Lee said, rocking the baby in his arms as Victor cooed down at Beauty, grabbing his little hand toward her.

“I’m careful,” Nigel assured his husband, staring at him. “You hide it well.”

“I know you are, so I do hide my worry. You can take care of yourself, I shouldn’t worry,” Lee explained, touching Nigel’s shoulder with a free hand.

“How the fuck do you do that? I feel something and it’s all over my face, like a fucking billboard,” Nigel murmured, his arm around Lee’s waist as they meandered around the park. The fresh air and the happy dog at their side was enough to distract Victor, for now.

“Lots of meditation, I told you,” Lee chuckled, and leaned into Nigel, feeling oddly at peace like this, even with the baby between them.

“Shit, maybe I should try it,” Nigel laughed, and kissed Lee’s cheek. When the baby was quiet, it really wasn’t bad, after all. His mind was always going a thousand miles an hour. He might not have been the most educated man, but Nigel wouldn’t have accomplished what he had if he wasn’t as sharp as as a well-honed blade.

“I’d love to lead you in some,” Lee offered, but he knew Nigel never would.

Nigel chuckled at the thought, and let his palm rest over the curve of Lee’s ass. “I’d get distracted…”

“That’s not hard to do with you,” Lee grinned, bumping his hip up against Nigel’s.

“When these two days are over, we’re going to spend a whole fucking day naked and drunk,” Nigel moaned, and kept Lee close to him, hand still on his husband’s firm little ass.

“Is that all? Naked and drunk?” Lee chuckled, canting his head at Nigel whimsically.

“We’ll start there, and see what the fuck happens,” Nigel promised with a smirk, and a gleam in his glossy, dark eyes, then leaned over to kiss Lee on the lips with a little groan at the thought of not being able to do much with him for two days. It was hard to keep his hands off of Lee for hours at a time, let alone days. “We can reward each other for lost time.”

“I like the sound of that,” Lee crooned, a devilish smirk on his face. Two days wouldn’t be bad, they’d almost gotten through one, but they had yet to try to put the baby down for bed yet either.

Nigel stole a little bite against the side of Lee’s throat, just under his ear, and kissed his earlobe. “Hard to believe two days is going to feel like forever …” Nigel laughed, and gave Lee’s ass a gentle slap.

It could always turn into a day and a half of teasing the fuck out of each other, of course…

“Oh really?” Lee batted his big blue eyes at Nigel, the baby starting to nod off in his arms. “We should get back.”

Nigel smirked, and texted their driver, then turned Lee and Beauty around and headed back as he gave an approving look to the sleeping baby. “I’ll be damned. It worked.”

“Now, will he stay asleep?” Lee canted his head to look at the little boy and his dark curls. He rested his own cheek over his soft head.

“He’d better,” Nigel murmured, as their car rolled up, and Nigel opened the door for Lee and the baby. Beauty hopped in this time, with a look at Nigel. “Yes, you’re in. I know…”

“She’s telling you,” Lee said, buckling carefully with the belt around Victor, who snored softly.

Nigel just rolled his eyes and got into the car. He shut the door and Beauty laid over his lap, head on his shoulder. “She forgives me, I went back for her,” he smiled, petting the dog. He’d developed a soft spot for her, he could never leave her behind.

“She knows we’d come back if we did, and you did.” Lee reached and touched Beauty’s head, scratching behind her ears.

“Damn right I did. She’s the only bitch I love,” Nigel chuckled, and petted Beauty as they drove home through the darkening city.

By the time they got home, Victor was still asleep. Lee carefully maneuvered him to the crib and set the blanket over him, gently, and then turned out the lights, leaving Beauty to watch over him. How long it would last, he didn’t know, but he was really, really tired.

Nigel waited for Lee in the kitchen and cracked open the bottle of wine they’d bought, then took a long sling of it straight from the bottle.  “Is he out?” Nigel asked, when Lee walked in.

“Still out,” Lee said, stretching and yawning all at once.

“Fuck…” Nigel sighed, and took another swallow of the wine he’d opened from the bottle, then poured a glass for Lee from it, even selecting the correct glass for the vintage, this time. He handed the glass over with a sigh.

“Thank you.” Lee slumped up against the counter and then jumped up to sit on it, smelling his wine first.

“I had no idea kids were such a fucking pain in the ass,” Nigel sighed, and leaned against the counter near Lee.

Lee took a sip and let it wash over his taste buds slowly, watching Nigel for that second, and then swallowed. He hummed. “No idea either. I have avoided babies at all cost.”

“Until we had one fucking dropped on us,” Nigel muttered, and wrapped one arm around his husband’s narrow hips. 

Lee grinned down at Nigel and rested his head against his. “I’m always up for learning, but I really don’t want one now.”

“Fuck, no. Never. No fucking babies,” Nigel agreed, as he nuzzled his husband. “Thank fucking god I can’t knock you up.”

“You picked wisely not marrying a woman,” Lee whispered, kissing Nigel’s head.

“For more than one reason,” Nigel murmured, as he stared into Lee’s bright blue eyes. He liked to gaze at them and pick out as many different shades of blue as he possibly could.

"Besides the obvious that I don’t have.” Lee took another long sip of wine and then set the glass down beside him, hands on Nigel’s shoulders instead.

Nigel smiled at that, the bottle of wine on the counter forgotten by now. “I can’t fucking imagine myself with anyone but you, Baby, not a single person, man, woman, whatever. You’re stuck with me. Forever.”

“Stuck? Forever?” Lee scoffed, teasingly, and kissed Nigel on the lips this time. “I’d be honored.”

“As you fucking should be,” Nigel whispered with a smirk, and pulled Lee into a much deeper kiss. His big hands cupped Lee’s face, thumb gliding over the lines of his short facial hair, then down to his throat.

“Fuck, I love you,” Lee groaned into the kiss, never bored of Nigel, and never sure he could be. He rubbed his fingers over Nigel’s tense shoulders.

Nigel hummed, and pulled his gun out of the pocket in the inside of his coat, and set it on the counter, then shucked his coat off and let it drop heavily to the floor, in a puddle of cognac-colored leather at his feet as he kissed Lee. “Love you-”

Lee pressed his hands over Nigel’s chest as he kissed him heatedly, sliding their tongues together slowly, legs around his hips. By now, they’d have fucked twice if Nigel was home for the day, but with the baby around…

Nigel peeled Lee’s shirt off, quickly, then let one hand drop between Lee’s thighs to rub at his groin while he sucked Lee’s deft tongue. “Fucking wanted to do this since the shower…”

Lee let his shirt go and then worked on Nigel’s, not knowing how much time they would have, he had to get this going now. “Me too. Get this off.”

Nigel still wore Lee’s sweater. He smiled, his teeth glinting in the kitchen light, and stripped the sweater off of his torso, then wrapped it around Lee’s back to pull him closer for another kiss. “Bossy little bird…”

“Hungry bear,” Lee purred against his mouth, feeling out his chest with both hands with a groan.

Lee’s hands on his chest was one of the best feelings in the world. Nigel kissed Lee harder, and undid Lee’s jeans, then reached inside to grasp his cock. “Love feeling you hard for me,” Nigel groaned.

“Just look at me like that all the time,” Lee groaned against his husband’s perfectly shaped mouth, licking and biting at his lips as he raked his fingers down his chest slowly.

“Yeah?” Nigel purred, and kissed Lee, harder as he picked him up, moving Lee’s legs around his hips, and carried him toward their bedroom.

“That’s all it takes.” Lee peppered hot biting kisses down Nigel’s jaw and neck as they walked to the bedroom, no peep from the baby as they did. “You’ve made me weak kneed since the day we met.”

Nigel stretched his head back so that Lee could kiss and bite all he wanted, then laid Lee on the bed and crawled over him to take Lee’s cock in hand, again, stroking. “Same…”

Lee’s hips jolted into the touch once more, rolling against Nigel’s palm, creating perfect friction. He gathered long strands silvery of hair in his fingers, clutching tightly. “Nigel…”

Nigel yanked Lee’s jeans off, completely, and leaned down to bite at Lee’s nipples, tugging them with his teeth, hard, then licking them with the broad, rough, flat of his tongue by turns.

Naked, Lee spread his thighs and invited Nigel between them as he moaned a little louder at the attentions, tipping his head down to watch Nigel devour. “My bear-”

Nigel licked Lee’s chest, and worked his way down, biting at him, devouring him down to his hips before he pinned Lee’s narrow hips down with both hands and licked at his cock. Holding his breath, Lee pressed his cock up against Nigel’s tongue  biting his bottom lip  at the heated sensation.

Nigel didn’t do this often, but he felt like tasting Lee. He gripped both hands around Lee’s hips and began to suck him, in long, hard pulls of his hot mouth, greedy for the scent and taste of him right now.

And Lee never minded, so when Nigel did, he enjoyed it to the last moment. He tugged on his hair harder, heels planted into the bed to press up gently into his husband’s mouth. “Fuck, Perfect-”

Nigel moaned, and sucked the head of Lee’s cock, hollowing his cheeks as he stared up at him, his own hips rocked, rubbing himself against the bed. Slowly, he pulled his mouth off. “Aren’t you a pretty thing when you’re being sucked off?” Nigel purred, and pressed Lee’s thighs to his chest as he licked his way to Lee’s balls.

Lee hummed at that, tugging off his socks and throwing them, head back against the bed now as he thoroughly enjoyed his lavishingly. “Yeah…”

Nigel worked his way over Lee’s balls, sucking them easily into his mouth, one at a time. He moved down, and started to rim Lee, slowly, tongue torturing the nerves around his entrance before it pressed into him.

“Oh fuck…” Lee squirmed, but he loved every bit of it, especially when Nigel didn’t do this often, when he did the treat sent him right over the edge.

Nigel moaned against Lee, and wrapped his powerful hands around Lee’s thighs, pulling him down over his capable tongue as he slicked him from the inside. Finally, Nigel pulled his tongue out, and moved up, between Lee’s legs to press his dripping cock inside of his husband, slowly, savouring the look on Lee’s face.

Panting already, Lee gripped Nigel’s shoulders, knees to his chest, taking him all the way in with a huffed breath. “Oh fuck, _ Daddy _ .” He lip his bottom lip.

“That’s right,” Nigel almost growled. His stomach started to flex as he thrust into Lee, staring down at him with dark-eyed passion as his hips pounded against the bear claw tattoos.

The skin around the tattoos pinked with each slapping thrust of hips to ass. Lee writhed, toes curled in the air as his core heated to his lower back, spreading like wildfire. “Harder-”

Lee always loved it rough, and Nigel loved that he loved it that way. Nigel’s eyes flashed darker as they went half-closed and he slammed himself into Lee while he pinned his hips to the bed with both hands. “Hard enough?” he managed to gasp out.

“More,” Lee managed, a smile managing to grace his youthful features through the onslaught Nigel bore down on him. His skin felt on fire and the heat coiled in his loins were threatening to spread.

“Atta boy,” Nigel growled, and slapped Lee’s ass as he yanked Lee’s hips back with every thrust. How such a delicate, pretty thing like Lee could like it so rough was a fucking miracle.

“Nigel-” Lee started, but it ended with a thrashing groan that shook Lee from head to toe, coming hot and hard over his own stomach and chest, throbbing around Nigel’s cock.

Nigel loved the way Lee moaned and writhed when he came, the passion with which Lee exploded and threw himself into the orgasm. It was the sexiest thing he could imagine, and it was more than enough to push Nigel into his own. He shouted, wordlessly, and buried himself inside Lee as he came. It felt like he fell apart inside, shuddering and broken in the best possible way.

He laid over Lee, panting, arms around him as he breathed against Lee’s neck.

Lee wrapped his arms around Nigel, shaking, skin buzzing. “I would never give this up for a some kid.”

Nigel laughed at that, warm and throaty, and nuzzled Lee’s sharp jaw, then kissed his cheek. “Neither would I, not for anything in the fucking world,” he sighed, and bit at Lee’s adorable ears, softly.

Lee smiled and moved to kiss Nigel again when a soft whimper came from the other room, and Beauty barked excitedly.

“Perfect timing,” Nigel groaned, and pulled out of Lee with another kiss, then pulled a pair of pajama pants on, and followed Beauty out of the room.

Lee went to clean up and then followed them,  stepping into a pair of basketball shorts he wore around the house. Victor was screaming like a banshee by the time they got to him.

“Hey, hey …” Nigel sighed as he walked into the room with the crib to find the screeching baby, and picked him up. “What the fuck is wrong?”

The baby shook and shivered, and his face was so red and angry that Lee actually felt bad for him. His tiny teeth and gums even looked mad. “Diaper?”

“Maybe…” Nigel sighed, and tried to pat Victor’s back as he walked him to the kitchen table. “We’ll just burn the fucking table after this,” he muttered, as he began to undress Victor. Beauty nosed at the crying baby’s feet, stressed by his distress.

Lee went to get the wipes and the diapers and brought them over, tempted to get mits from the drawer. “Poor thing, he looks so unhappy.” Nigel held his breath and opened Victor’s diaper with a scowl on his face, expecting the worst. “If you piss on me, kid…”

The diaper was full, wet and gross again. Lee ran over with the wipes and began to wipe as much as he could and stuff it into the dirty diaper and then folded it up and took it out to the garbage they left outside.

Nigel held his breath as he held the kid up by one leg, and wiped him with a handful of wet wipes, disgusted. “New diaper!” Nigel called out to Lee, his free hand extended.

Lee quickly got another one and handed it to Nigel, and then thought better and opened it up and laid it out. “There, hurry before we get another pee brigade.”

Nigel put Victor down in the diaper and closed it up like he was covering an active bomb in an explosion-proof case. He fumbled with the sticky flaps, but managed to get it closed, and looked at Lee, then back at Victor as he let his breath out. “I’m going to punch Charlie in his useless balls, as hard as I can, twice, so he never breeds again.”

Lee laughed out loud, shaking his head. “He’s not that bad, he just needs a little life guidance. If they’re living I the area I’d really like to offer him…” Lee trailed off when he saw the look Nigel gave him, and shut his mouth, scooping up the baby instead.

“No-” Nigel said, as he threw the last of the wipes in the trash, and then ran his hands under hot water with dish soap all over his fingers. “We give them the fucking baby, we never see them again.”

“You don’t ever want to see Victor again after this? Lee blinked at Nigel and snuggled the soft little boy. He sure didn’t want to keep him, but he wouldn’t say no to babysitting for a few hours.

“What are we going to do, have him over for a few beers?” Nigel asked, after he dried his hands. He opened the fridge to get one out, and opened it against the counter.

“Do you hate him because he’s with Gabi?” Lee asked, honestly, looking over at Nigel, patting Victor’s back as he rocked him back and forth in circles, hoping he would go back to sleep.

Nigel walked closer to Lee, looking him in the eye. “No, I hate him because he’s a fucking dumbass, just like I hate every fucking dumbass. I don’t give a shit who’s with Gabi anymore, why would I?”

“You don’t even know him. His aura is… it’s sorta sad, actually. A good person, like you, but also sad like you were when we met,” Lee said, mostly just talking, not really sure if Nigel would listen anyway, he never got into any of this sort of thing with Lee.

"Sad? I was sad?” Nigel asked, as he sipped his beer, and listened to his husband with a little smile when he started to go on about auras and shit.

“You were angry and sad. They sorta go hand-in-hand, Nigel,” Lee explained, rubbing a scruffy cheek against the soft baby’s head. “Charlie is just sad. He mentioned his mother, remember that?”

“Someone can be sad and be a dipshit, they’re not impossible to have at the same fucking time,” Nigel said, and picked up a dog toy to squeak at the baby, who’d stopped crying now that he was out of the diaper from Hell.

“Not everyone can be as smart and self reliant as you,” Lee pointed out, adoringly.

Nigel rolled his eyes with a little smile at his husband, and stepped close enough to rest his hand on the side of Lee’s waist. “Are you bullshitting me, Baby?” he asked, eyes sparkling at Lee’s irresistible charm. It was nearly impossible to argue with him.

“No. I never bullshit a bullshitter,” Lee grinned, and leaned in to kiss Nigel’s lips.

Nigel chuckled, low and deep in his chest, and cupped Lee’s face with one hand as they kissed. “I’m not a bullshitter, take that back,” he rumbled, with affection. He was pretty sure Lee could charm bees into not stinging him while he stole honey.

Or just get his bear to do it for him.

Lee nipped at Nigel’s lip. “I don’t lie, so I can’t take that back.”

“You don’t ever lie? Ever?” Nigel asked, as Victor cooed between them, and patted Nigel’s chest hair, which Nigel remedied by relocating his hand to Lee’s smooth chest.

“I may stretch the truth a little…” Lee admitted, “but not anymore, not to you.” He patted Victor’s small hand, which grabbed on to Lee’s thumb as the baby laughed.

“Did you ever stretch the truth with me?” Nigel asked, more seriously, and rubbed Victor’s smooth, bare back with his big hand, soothing him.

“The day I met you. Remember I made up little stretched truths on my appointments?” Lee raised his brows, and laughed. “I didn’t honestly think you’d stick around if you knew. It weirded out even my friends.”

“Your little old ladies you couldn’t keep waiting,” Nigel remembered Lee’s excuse for having to leave for his chemo appointments. “But not since?” he asked, impressed, and relieved if that was the answer.

“I haven’t had reason or need to lie or stretch the truth with you,” Lee admitted. “I don’t want to keep things from you. I like that we’re open about everything.”

  
Nigel nodded, and kissed Lee’s forehead, just between his eyebrows, “I’ve never lied to you. Not once,” he whispered. “Never needed to.”

“You’re a very open book that way. I appreciate it a lot.” Lee leaned into Nigel as the baby snuggled them both, clearly getting attached.

Nigel started to laugh at that, and it made the tanned skin at the edges of his eyes and sculpted lips crinkle with expression. “Most people just call me a blunt asshole, and those are the nice ones.”    
  
Nigel was very aware of what he was. He knew he was blunt as a bloodied crowbar, and had a temper that scared even himself, sometimes. He knew he was crazy, but he knew himself, and that was more than most could say. Lee knew,  _ and _ accepted him … which was astounding. 

Lee believed in being yourself, but a good version of it. Nigel wasn’t the best, no that was true, however Lee tried his best to see all the good and promote the good in his husband. As he would with anyone, only Nigel got most of his time these days.

“Well, you are that, too. Just not to me.”   
  
“No, not to you,” Nigel agreed, softly, and swallowed a little harder over a momentary tightness in his throat. “Just to the people who deserve it,” he sighed. In Nigel’s mind, that was … everyone but Lee. 

Lee laughed and kissed Nigel for that. They definitely didn’t see the world the same way at all. “If you say so.”

They hadn’t eaten yet, Nigel realized. He kissed Lee, and shuffled to the fridge to pull out some bacon and eggs, and started to cook Lee’s favourite dish. “Late fucking breakfast, but you’ve got to eat. Want toast?”

“More like early, but I could eat, sure.” Lee moved around with the baby in his arms , get the bread out.

Nigel nodded and slapped the bacon down in the pan, and started to cook it with a yawn. Beauty looked conflicted for a moment, unable to decide between looking at the baby and looking at the bacon.

Lee rocked Victor as he put bread in the toaster and got out the eggs. “We are going good to be up all night…”

“Who the fuck needs sleep?” Nigel sighed, and looked back at Lee, admiring him as he rocked the baby.

“Mm, those of us who are old and hoping to keep cancer fended off,” Lee teased, but he wasn't tired, not yet.

“Shit,” Nigel sighed, and went to Lee, taking the baby. “Go sleep, baby.”

Lee laughed. “I'm hungrier than I am tired,” he said, going to the bacon to check it.

“You’re sure?” Nigel asked, fretting over Lee again. The damn baby made them lose track of everything.

“I’m starved.” Lee flipped the bacon with his fingers carefully, and went to plate the toast as it popped up.

“Okay, okay,” Nigel muttered, and pushed the curled up bacon to the side of the pan so he could start the plain, no frills eggs Lee loved for some reason. Victor was happy to hug Nigel around his neck as he worked with one hand.

Lee kissed Nigel’s neck softly, and nuzzled him, and then buttered the toast and got down two plates, humming a little as he worked. He loved how protective Nigel was of him, and though overbearing at times, he knew he’d rather have it than not.

A few moments later, Nigel had ‘breakfast’ ready, and pushed Lee’s plate toward him. “There, Baby, eat.”

“Thank you,” Lee said, giving Nigel a fork and kept one for himself. He all but inhaled the eggs and bacon, putting it on his toast for easier serving.

Nigel brought another plate for Lee, putting it down in front of him without asking, then started to make his own as he shifted Victor in his arms who was tugging at his long, silver hair and chewing on the ends. “Kid…”

“I can hold him while I eat,” Lee said, looking at the second plate of food, realizing Nigel was making him eat all of this himself. “There’s no way I am eating all of this…”

“Just try. You need it,” Nigel said as he made a new plate for himself, then handed Victor to Lee.

Victor, however, clung to Nigel’s soft hair, in fist fulls.

“He wants you. Maybe we should have bought a carrier? You know one of those things we make fun of everyone else for wearing their kid with?” Lee sighed, and tried to try Victor’s fingers from Nigel.

“I’m not tying a fucking baby to my chest-” Nigel sighed, and twisted his head as he swore in Romanian, which just made Victor tug his hair harder. 

Lee wrenched tiny fingers free and then took Victor into his arms and sat him on his lap as he stuffed his egg and bacon toast into his mouth. “Fine, fine… suit yourself.”

Nigel rubbed his hand through his hair, and went back to the stove, where he worked on his own breakfast now that Lee was stuffing himself. Victor, however, had other ideas, and began to cry, woefully, little arms reaching for Nigel.

Lee, for all his patience, was starting to get a headache, and wiggled his leg around so that Victor was giggled a little up and down. “Come on, it’s okay,  he’ll be over here in a second.”

Victor just cried harder until Nigel tossed the spatula he held down in frustration and picked Victor up again with one arm. “You’re fucking kidding me. I’m the one he likes?” he muttered, testily, but Victor stopped crying and held on to Nigel’s bare shoulder, chewing on his skin as he stopped crying, slowly, with little hiccuping breaths.

“I held him a lot earlier,” Lee sighed, stuffing the rest of the food into his mouth, having eaten all of what Nigel gave him, hungrier than he thought.

“Fickle asshole,” Nigel muttered under his breath and plated his food, then carried it to the table and sat down, Victor on his lap as he ate around him. 

“We just have to get through tonight and tomorrow, right?” Lee asked, full now and feeling exhaustion start to tug at him, threatening to take him down completely.

  
“Maybe we should take it in shifts,” Nigel muttered, able to see the droop of Lee’s eyelids. Lee could get sick again, Nigel thought, he had to sleep. “Go to bed, I’ll stay up. Take over when you’re not going to fucking fall asleep in your dinner plate.”

“It’s an  empty dinner plate,” Lee pointed out quietly, leaned into one hand as he looked at Nigel. “You know I don’t sleep without you.”

“Then I’ll lay there until you’re asleep,” Nigel said, in a tone that suggested there was going to be no arguing with him. He stuffed another mouthful of food into his mouth, and stood up, gesturing for Lee to follow him. “It’s that or I’m feeding El Fucking Diablo a bottle of cough syrup and going to let nature handle it.”

“Sit down,” Lee sighed, and leaned over to kiss Nigel on the lips. “I’m going to bed and taking the dog with me. Please don’t get the baby drunk.”

Nigel just grunted, not making any promises, but kissed Lee on the lips, softly, while Victor sucked at the ends of Nigel’s silvery hair. “Run. Save yourself,” Nigel muttered, dryly, like he was taking a bullet for Lee.

“I love you,” Lee whispered, and nuzzled Nigel once and then shuffled off to the bedroom, where he barely made it to bed, just flopped down on it half on.

Nigel sighed as he watched Lee wander off to bed, and waved for Beauty to go with him, which she did. She snuggled up to Lee on the bed where Nigel would usually sleep, and closed her eyes, wagging slowly.   
  
Nigel looked at Victor, as much as he could, the kid was so close that he could barely turn his head. “It’s you and me,” he muttered, and set about making coffee to get him through what was going to be a long, long night. 

***

Lee slept like the dead, he’d only meant to for a few hours, and then let Nigel, but Beauty was warm behind him, and Lee crashed hard. Soon morning sun woke him as it usually did, and he blinked, remembering the baby and bolted out of bed. “Nigel?”

Nigel was in his leather chair in the living room, utterly passed out, with the sleeping baby held to his chest as he slouched in the chair. His long legs draped over a footstool, and Nigel twitched in his sleep, then opened his eyes as though his eyelids weighed so much he could barely manage. “Hm…”

“Shh,” Lee hushed, and put a blanket over them, and smiled. He was still exhausted, but up for now, not wanting to over sleep, and went to make fresh coffee.

Nigel’s throat was dry, and his eyes felt like the corneas had been scrubbed with steel wool. He realized his heavy arms were holding the sleeping baby, which was only slightly less dire than holding a live landmine. He took a slow, deep breath, and tried not to move, not to so much as change his breathing.   
  
The smell of coffee was welcome. “What time is it?” he whispered to Lee.

“About…” Lee looked at the microwave. “Nine in the morning.” Fuck, he’d slept almost twelve hours. Lee wandered back in and gently scooped Victor and put him in the crib again, and then patted it for Beauty to hop in with him, to keep him snuggled and warm.

Beauty managed to get herself up, and over the side of the low crib, then curled around Victor’s feet, gazing at him with utter adoration as Nigel pushed himself out of the chair. His joints felt old this morning, like he’d rusted shut as he slept in the chair for a couple hours. “That fucking kid wouldn’t let me put him  _ down _ . He’d start screaming, like his crib was lined with used syringes or some shit. I was sure he’d wake you up.”

“It’s fine if he had,” Lee said, and opened his arms for a hug. “C’mere.”

Nigel shuffled closer, into Lee’s arms. He was usually the one pulling Lee into his arms, but right now, Nigel was more than happy to be held. He closed his eyes, and rested his head on top of Lee’s, then wrapped both arms around him, still bare-chested and in the pajama pants from last night. “No. You need your fucking sleep.”

“Twelve hours is way too long to let me sleep,” Lee whispered and hugged Nigel’s tightly, arms around his shoulder tightly, feeling his warmth against himself, and rubbed their scruffy faces together.

Nigel smiled at the nuzzling, and kissed the side of Lee’s throat, then his lips. “I fell asleep,” he muttered. The truth was, Nigel felt like he would die if Lee got sick again. He’d rather do anything than risk that.

“Alright, alright,” Lee said, letting it go. “In that case, we have coffee, and already had breakfast, what’s for second breakfast?”

“Charlie’s fucking liver,” Nigel joked, grimly, as the lower lid of one of his eyes twitched from exhaustion. He kissed Lee, and moved to the kitchen to start slapping together a breakfast. Somehow, Lee always liked  _ whatever _ he made, even if it was just shitty potato pancakes with leftover sausage mixed in.    
  
That sounded, good, actually. Nigel started to cook, still half-asleep. 

“I can cook if you want,” Lee offered, arms around Nigel from behind as he cooked, no matter how hindering he was right then.

Lee hugging him was always welcome, and Nigel leaned his weight back against him, gently. “I got it, Baby,” he assured Lee as he mixed leftover mashed potatoes that he dumped in a bowl without measuring, then added eggs, cheese, and ripped up chives. He seemed able to just guess what would taste good, and apparently Lee liked that. 

Lee rested his head on Nigel’s shoulder, humming, hugging him tightly. “You’re always taking care of me.”

“Someone’s fucking got to,” Nigel said, softly, and looked back at Lee, a smile in his tired, dark eyes.

“I took care of myself before you,” Lee teased, and kissed Nigel’s cheek.

“You probably drank most of your damn dinners,” Nigel smiled, and started to cook the first pancake.

“Look, when you have terminal cancer, you can drink whatever you want,” Lee teased, and kissed Nigel’s bare shoulder, running his hands up his chest with a little sigh.

“Mhm,” Nigel murmured and rubbed Lee’s hand where it curled in his chest hair. “Nice excuse…”

“Some people eat whatever they want, I drank whatever I wanted,” Lee chuckled, and nuzzled Nigel’s shoulder. “Are we having pancakes?” He leaned up on his toes looking into the pan.

“Potato pancakes and sausage,” Nigel sighed. It was a plain breakfast in his part of the world, hardly exotic.

Lee loved it. Lee loved anything Nigel made. “It smells good. I’ll get the coffee poured.” He squeezed Nigel tightly and went to pour coffee into their mugs, humming.

In no time, Nigel had breakfast on their plates, barely aware of what time it was, just that they were closer to the tiny tyrant being out of their hair.

Nigel sat heavily on a kitchen chair at the table, and closed his eyes, ready to put his head on the table and fucking sleep.

Lee ate but reached over to touch Nigel’s arm. “Hey,  _ Daddy _ , go to sleep. I’ll take care of Victor and clean up.”

“You sure?” Nigel yawned. Part of him was so bloody stubborn that he wanted to stay up with Lee, just  _ because _ … but he wasn’t as fucking young as he used to be.

“I’ll still be here,” Lee promised, stuffing his face with food, a sign that he was healthy and very happy. “I’ll get the baby, don’t worry. It’s your turn.” Lee waved him off, eying Nigel’s plate of food.

“Okay, okay, Baby,” Nigel sighed, and stood, rubbing his chest with one hand as he shuffled to Lee to kiss him, then whistled for Beauty, who looked at him from near the baby’s crib, and whimpered. 

Nigel sighed, heavily, looking at her. “Oh, this is bullshit …” he whispered, “I saved you from a fucking abusive drug dealer, fed, you, loved you … and you betray me …” he wandered off to bed, still muttering bitterly about his dog as Beauty just wagged at Lee from near the baby.

Lee just laughed, watching after Nigel, and then stole his plate of food and ate that too. As Nigel slept, he cleaned, the kitchen spotless. Victor woke, and he bathed him carefully in the sink, washed it out, diapered him, and put new clothes on him. They listened to some old New Orleans jazz records softly, as not to wake Nigel, and played with Beauty. Some hours in, they took the dog out for a bathroom break, the guards of Nigel’s watching Lee closely, never leaving him more than two feet.

Lee’s phone buzzed, from Nigel:  _ Where did you fucking go? _

Lee rolled his eyes.  _ Taking Beauty out for a piss. _

Nigel texted back again after a moment:  _ They didn’t come get the baby yet, did they? _

_ Don’t know. They have your number not mine. _ Lee sighed, and walked back toward the elevator when a car stopped, and he looked to see Charlie getting out. He looked back at his phone texting quickly one handed.  _ Here now. Better come say goodbye. _

_ Be right down.  _   
  
Charlie climbed out of the car, as did Gabi, and Charlie ran toward Lee who had the baby. Immediately, both guards pulled guns, aiming at Charlie’s chest and head.    
  
“Whoa- No, no … that’s my baby, he knows me, Lee knows me!” Charlie insisted, as he raised his hands, eyes wide.

Lee looked at the guards, knowingly. “That’s Victor’s father.” Lee walked closer and handed the baby over to Charlie and Gabi, as the baby babbled, chewing on his fingers. Lee had no idea what the hell they were going to do with the crib and everything else they bought. “Nigel’s on his way down… to say good bye.”

The guards lowered their guns when Lee indicated that everything was okay, and the doors opened to the elevator. Nigel stepped out, rested and as menacing as ever as he narrowed his eyes at Charlie and Gabi. “Is the problem fucking taken care of, Charlie?” he asked, point-blank.   
  
“Yes. Yes, everything’s … everything's fine now,” Charlie insisted as he took Victor and kissed his head, hugging the baby before Gabi took him to do the same. “All taken care of.”   
  
Nigel watched, his jaw shifting. “It had fucking better be. You have a fucking  _ family _ now, Charlie. If you don’t take care of them, someone’s going to fucking take care of you,” he whispered, with a menacing tone, his eyes locked with Charlie’s. “You got that? That fucking kid  _ isn’t _ going to live passed around from one place to the next. That’s a shitty life, and you’re not going to let that happen, now, are you,  _ Charlie _ ? Because if you do, it’s a long fucking trip to the sidewalk off of my balcony. Got that?”    
  
Gabi sighed, but said nothing, just exchanged a look with Lee as Nigel menaced Charlie into promising not to get into shit again … for his son’s sake.    
  
Charlie’s throat went dry, but he licked his lips, and nodded. “Promise.  _ Boring _ life, boring, perfect life for Victor. I swear.”   
  
Nigel held eye contact for another second, and nodded his begrudging approval.

“Wonderful,” Lee said stepping between them all. “That said, if you need a sitter for a few hours-- not a day, not two, not even a week-- we’d be happy to help.” He held a hand to Nigel’s chest, holding him back. “I mean it, an hour or two. We’re too old for this shit.”

Nigel grunted his agreement and looked away, at the baby, who gurgled and waved his hands at him and Lee. Nigel smiled a little, at Victor, then shut it down.

Lee leaned over and kissed Victor’s head. “Not going to miss your disgusting diapers,” Lee whispered and then patted Charlie’s back and walked back toward the elevator.

Nigel sighed, and walked to Victor, then patted his back and whispered to him in Romanian, and walked back to join Lee in the elevator.   
  
“Thank you, again, seriously, thank you,” Charlie said as they walked away, he waved, and made Victor wave at them as Nigel put his arm around Lee in the elevator,  Beauty getting in with them, and the doors closed.   
  
The doors closed, and they began to climb up to their apartment.   
  
“It’s so fucking  _ quiet _ ,” Nigel whispered, with relief.

“I can hear myself think again,” Lee whispered back, a smile gracing his delicate features. He leaned into Lee. “Can we go fuck anywhere we want now?”

“We could fuck on the floor of the living room, if we wanted to,” Nigel laughed, and pulled Lee against his chest with closed eyes and a heavy sigh.

“Where do you want to fuck first?” Lee asked, tucking his nose into Nigel’s neck, exhausted just from the fact of a baby being in their house.

Even his few hours of rest was not enough. He’d slept lightly, listening for the sound of crying, or Lee in trouble, like he used to sleep when Lee was sick, it was a half-sleep, more than anything. “Bed,” Nigel whispered, as he palmed Lee’s ass with one hand, and kissed his lips, possessively.

Lee hummed his agreement and pushed Nigel out of the now open doors and into their place once again, palming down Nigel’s chest. “God, I missed not being able to jump you when I wanted…” And it had only been two days. If that.  
Nigel pulled off the dark shirt he’d thrown on when Lee texted him to come downstairs, and walked backward through the apartment, pulling Lee with him as they kissed. “Fuck, me too … no kids. Not ever,” he whispered, undoing Lee’s pants.

“No kids,” Lee agreed, pulling off his own shirt, tossing it down wherever he wanted, and then stepped out of his pants, naked in front of Nigel, and undid his husband’s pants this time.

Nigel pulled Lee closer, and kissed him harder as he backed toward the bedroom, pulling Lee along as he kicked off and stepped out of his pants on the way. Lee pushed Nigel onto the bed, crawling over him, kissing him passionately now, tongues sliding, panting.

Nigel pulled Lee over him, and began to kiss him more slowly as he wrapped both arms around Lee’s back, fingers stroking lazy patterns in his skin, slower … and slower. Sleeping without Lee hadn’t felt right and now, Lee was close, and as turned on as Nigel was, it was  _ soothing  _ …

The overwhelming need to sleep hit Lee like a ton of bricks as he collapsed into Nigel's arms. He'd slept a lot, but he hadn't realizing how much he'd slept virus actual rest. Lee breathed slower, their lips parting softly, and his eyes closing… as much as he wanted this to continue, Lee was exhausted.

Nigel kissed Lee, slower, and closed his eyes as he sighed against Lee’s mouth, and fell asleep, holding his husband to his chest with two strong arms wrapped around him like vices.

Nuzzling against Nigel's face, Lee relented, and rested his head on Nigel's chest instead, falling asleep right after him, Beauty at their feet.


End file.
